Gotham's Best Crashing Pad
by Chaotic Charisma
Summary: Living in that old house by yourself is lonely they said. Get a roommate they said. It would be fun they said. Yes well fortunately for herself the clowns, sirens, doctors, lawyers, armed assassins, birds, and even bats have decided to make her big "scary house" Gothams #1 crashing pad, how lucky. She should've just opened that damn coffee shop instead*Inspired by Villian wrangler
1. A Dumb Mistake

**A/n: **Story inspired by lil'hawkeye3 's **_The Villian Wrangler _**But will not be the same premise, but a similar idea? I think?

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** Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of the Batman/DC comics/enterprises, that would be amazing if I did.

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It's funny how one can despise the place they live in while at the same time know they couldn't live anywhere else. Sure, it's true that with the constant supply of new heroes and the equal amount of villains, every city faces the same issues. Yet that being said, Gotham was unique to all other hero-villain cities, at least to put it nicely. That was the case for Stephanie Claue.

Being the daughter of wealthy Gothamites, Stephanie would, of course, always have a place in her heart for the grim city. Though whether or not it was a positive viewpoint or completely negative view was unknown.

Her childhood wasn't anything to really share. She had both parents, a house, food, clothes, and friends, which of course wasn't the most common backstory to any child of Gotham yet it wasn't the most glamorous. That being said, there was little to nothing that made it stand out among the rest.

After her parent's untimely death (caused by yet another domestic villain attack), the new college graduate returned once more to the city she had previously been so adamant on leaving. Left with her childhood home and funds and stocks worth millions, Stephanie did what any young person would do when given access to millions of dollars, she became a full-fledged hermit.

Yes, in most cases, those published and laughed at, people spend everything they had on luxurious access. But luckily for the Claue bank account and holdings, Stephanie was not and would not be like most cases. Once she had received her parents' last will, the young adult had been faced with a few choices.

She could, of course, be indulgent and spend her family's wealth, but then again that would be wasteful and if there was one thing you learned as a kid in Gotham, rich or poor, you don't do things that won't benefit you. It was a question of survival if that kid you befriend will be your savior or your murderer if that $100 you steal will make you a millionaire at the end of the day. It was all about being smart, surviving till the next day, and not wasting the things you had.

In the end, after weighing her options she decided to retire to her family's home and live a life withdrawn from society. Sure it wasn't the healthiest option, and true she could've done a lot with her wealth. Perhaps she would have made another Claue funded charity or a school or maybe take a card out of the Wayne foundation and supply the city of Gotham with money. But she wasn't good like that, she enjoyed the idea of not working, she liked the isolation away from others, besides it wasn't like she owned Gotham anything.

For a while, however, she did toy with the idea of opening a coffee shop probably in Metropolis or Star City, definitely away from Gotham and it's corruption (to be fair, the chance of her shop being destroyed by a terrorist gang, police riot, and or hero-villain scuffle was nearly triple compared to any other city). It wasn't like she needed the money and it wasn't ever a childhood dream of hers to have her own business, but it was a time passer and a way to make her own clean money. Not to say the Claude's had a dirty business with blood money, but no money in Gotham was ever gotten honestly.

Stephanie wasn't upset when she looked at where all the money in her family bank had come from, at least not as upset when she found out the truth behind some of her father's dealings. It wasn't anything too corrupt, no sex trafficking, no faulty products that ended in someone's death, and no hitman mysterious murders. No, it was more like tax evasion, business, and contract loopholes, and the thing that did upset her was the funding that had gone into the Arkham project.

Arkham had been one of the things that she had a strong opinion on, at least in high school. Did she agree with the institution or the idea of an "Arkham City" (which didn't come to fruition thankfully) no not really? She agreed that perhaps some villains needed professional help but she heard of the terrible horrors that plagued the accursed asylum. Hell, when she had written her senior paper on the place, Stephanie visited Arkham Asylum and had truly been shocked by the limited things she saw.

So when she found out her parents had voted for the asylum and saw no wrongs in the things done to the patients, the girl had packed up what she had and left the city, cutting off her parents in the process.

When she heard of her parent's death over seven years later she quickly returned to the infamous city. It had been a long time since she had been back, and she definitely regrets a lot. Some might've thought that because she felt guilty that her parents died without her saying goodbye, she thought staying cooped up in the large dark manor alone was retribution. Stephanie would always argue it wasn't the case, but whose to really say?

In had been a good six months of solitude alone in the Claue manor with very limited contact with the outside world. Thanks to the joys of online shopping and retail, the 26-year-old had very little reason to leave the house. A food delivery came every Sunday and besides the warm thank yous to the workers and the truck driver, that was pretty much all of her human contacts.

Sure there would be a reporter who'd try to barge past the iron gates and those who did make it pass were promptly ignored till they left. After the third month, the slow stream of reporters and news agency who tried to visit or call soon ended. Apparently, while her family was not the richest nor popular, they still were known in the community so with their death and subsequently the return of the "mysterious daughter who hasn't been seen in years" caught the greedy attention of the media. Thankfully another clown attack at a downtown gala turned the spotlight away and quickly following sightings of yet _another_ hooded vigilante rocked the city (Stephanie really lost count after the 5th bat like hero appeared, there really was too many).

The only other visits she'd receive would be the police chief, Commissioner Gordon. It really was just a social call, checking in every month to make sure she wasn't, you know dead, being held hostage, under mind control, or the most common thing for rich people, turn into deranged murderers and mad scientists. All of which she assured Gordon wasn't and hopefully wouldn't ever be true. Once or twice his daughter would tag along, Barbara she believes is her name, nice person around her age but Stephanie wasn't really into making friends no offense to the pretty redhead.

Besides the family gardener, who came every week, a charming man named Donovan whose father had been the previous caretaker to the place and the two maids who cleaned biweekly ever since she was a child, Stephanie Claue saw no one else during her stay.

Unfortunately for her, her quiet life and hermit lifestyle would drastically change upon the unexpected and unwanted visit of her aunt and uncle. To their credit, Stephanie's relatives were their own self-made millionaires and were quite nice to her, however arriving unannounced didn't really put her in a great mood. To top it off, the pair had the audacity to judge her current way of living, proclaiming it unhealthy (admittedly she knew it was but hearing it from any nagging family member didn't make it better) and insisting she move in with them and her three cousins in Central City. Of course, Stephanie declined their _very generous_ offer though it hadn't really been the end to that seeing as how her refusal got her in her current mess.

After turning down her aunt and uncle, they made her promise to go outside, to live a little, and seeing how, to them, someone so young and pretty shouldn't waste away in the dark Claue manor, Stephanie finally relented, agreeing to make an effort of living the house once and awhile. Happy with the response, they followed up saying she ought to get a roommate or two and perhaps hire a security detail and update the security cams. Because, as any sane person knows, Gotham was a scary place, filled with corruption, crazed murderers and villains, all of which could easily end Stephanie's life.

Yet again agreeing with their reasonings, Stephanie promised, albeit half-heartedly, that she would find a roommate and get an upgraded security system. After her aunt and uncles three day check in with her and the manor, they left satisfied knowing Stephanie would follow through with her promises (and the bribes she'd received from them in the form of the newest and exclusive video games didn't totally contribute at all). All of this is what led to Stephanie Claue finally leaving the Claue manor and back into the streets of Gotham City, this was her first mistake (though looking back, simply letting her relatives barge into her home was probably the first mistake).

While it did take her a good 2 weeks to actually commit to leaving the house and then a few more days to physically do it, once Stephanie was out the door and into her car she knew there was no turning back. Visiting a few old memories, even if a few places had apparently been blown up by something (at this point a freakin otter in a tutu dress could blow up town hall and she wouldn't even blink an eye), and running into a few old friends, Stephanie felt confident that she had done enough socializing for the day and made her way back home.

She really shouldn't have turned down that street because guess what? It was of course just her luck to run into something she probably shouldn't have. What did she come across that made her rethink ever leaving her bed ever again?

Well straight in the middle of the street, in all its glory was a fucking man wearing a red hood, covered in blood and decked out head to toe in weapons. Her headlights highlighted the glistening dripping blood on his face mask as he stepped forward, guns in hand. Hitting the breaks immediately, Stephanie was already putting the car in reverse to high tail out of there when, of fucking course it does, the man in the hooded mask thing falls face first into the concrete street.

Now like any smart would do if you saw a strange man who looked like he could kill you in a mere second, you would run away, leave him in the street and pretend nothing happened. And Stephanie believed she was intelligent enough to make the smart choice, she did grow up in Gotham after all where only the smart survived and the criminally insane, and those who were millionaires, or those who had the brute strength or had superpowers _or_\- the point was she knew what most people would have done. Unfortunately for her and her subsequent future, she didn't do what she should have done.

The rules of Gotham were to survive at a cost, yet here she was hoisting a man a good double her weight into the back seat of her car, carefully picking up and throwing all his weapons in too and then getting the fuck out there. She wasn't sure what compelled her to that, hell, she was probably going to be murdered once the strange man was conscious. And knowing her luck that man would probably end up being a mass murdering criminal wanted for over a million things because fate seems to really like fucking with those who live in Gotham.

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**A/N:** Don't worry, I haven't abandoned my other works. I fact this was, beside my PJO one was actually written before any of my other ones!


	2. Don't Bring Home Strays

**Summary**: Living in that old house by yourself is lonely they said. Get a roommate they said. It would be fun they said. Yes well fortunately for herself the clowns, sirens, doctors, lawyers, armed assassins, birds, and even bats have decided to make her big "scary house" Gothams #1 crashing pad, how lucky. She should've just opened that damn coffee shop instead

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**Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of the Batman/DC comics/enterprises

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It had been a day since Stephanie had rescued? Kidnapped? whichever it was, she had taken the strange man home with her. Thankfully it wasn't a day the maids nor the gardener worked, though at the same time meant she had to drag the man to the front porch, up the flight of stairs and into a spare room all by herself.

After ensuring she hadn't been followed and that all entrances and exits were sealed as well as all the newly installed security systems were on, Stephanie grabbed her medical supplies and rushed to the man's bedside. While he appeared mostly bloody, the majority externally seemed to have come from someone else (a thought she rather not think about). However, when she felt for any wounds on his midsection, she found a very large but not too deep cut.

She might not be a licensed medical person, Stephanie had taken a few medical and nursing classes while in high school. And while she had been one of the unofficial people to seek out if you had gotten into a fight in school for medical treatment, the majority of what she used to deal with were small and or shallow knife cuts and bruises, no stitches nor setting bones which ultimately wasn't the most helpful. Not an expert but not an idiot, Stephanie did what she could for the man's side wound that would keep it uninfected and cleaned. Bandaging and cleaning the small cuts and wounds he had, Stephanie stayed there with him, waiting until he awoke.

She knew she would be in deep shit no matter what happened. In the back of her mind, she had prayed it was some superhero or at the very least a vigilante who had cut the line with killing innocent and stupid people who save unconscious men in the street. On the other hand, this person could be the fucking Joker under that hood mask thing whatever it was. Stephanie did contemplate with removing it to make sure it wasn't Arkham's most wanted and calling the cops before he regained consciousness. But ultimately voted against such a thing as if it was a hero she might discover their secret identity and not only jeopardize them but put her at risk too.

Through all the thinking and worrying she hadn't noticed the man had regained consciousness (in all fairness he did have a mask shielding his eyes and face). It was only when a large hand reached and grabbed hold of her wrist did she realize, yelping out in surprise and fear.

"Where am I?"

Surprised by the sound of his low but nice sounding voice, though breathy as she could tell he was in pain, she answered as calmly as she could, "You're in the Claue Manor."

Of course, this answer wasn't good enough as he proceeded to yank her down right in front of his mask. Even injured he had enough strength to break her small wrist so she did her best not to retaliate in case her pulling away could cause the man to accidentally (or maybe not accidentally) snap it.

"Why the fuck am I in the Claue Manor and who are you?" He hissed out angrily and painfully, Stephanie was 85% sure he reopened the wound in his side.

"My name is Stephanie Claue," she stated as she felt his fingers twitch when she said her last name, possibly out of recognition? "You passed out in the middle of the street in front of my car, you're injured, and being the idiotic moron that I am, I brought you back to my house."

The room remained silent for a few moments as the man remained quiet, letting the information sink in before letting out a sigh, "You _are _an idiot." He almost would have laughed if he wasn't in so much pain, he definitely could feel it bleeding, _shit. _

"You should've just left me there you know," he told her clenching his teeth as she redressed his wound.

She rolled her eyes, "Would you have preferred me leaving you bleeding out in the streets then?" Her question was met with silence.

"How do you know I won't kill you? I could easily do it right now," he told her tightening the hold on her arm once more in a show of strength.

"Because if you were going to kill me, you would've done so already." She paused placing her free hand onto the man's hand which held her other, "And don't misunderstand, I know you can kill me now, even if you are injured, but you and I both know what the repercussions would be if I died. Not to mention you're DNA is all over, tying you down to the murder."

He knew she was right about it all. If she died the spotlight would always be wrapped around her murder and finding the murderer. And knowing the affluence of her parents and the Claue business and image, Gotham would always be on the lookout. _Hell,_ he was sure that even the _Justice_ _League_ would notice and he really _really_ didn't need that right now.

"You need your rest right now. You can leave in the morning if your wound has clotted properly and never see me again if you wish." He moved to protest but was surprisingly stopped by her cold expression, "Don't you dare move right now and risk spilling any more blood in my house, understand?"

Receiving a simple nod, Stephanie added, "If you get hungry, just call me and I can get you something." And with that, she left the man on own.

Stephanie didn't understand why the hell she offered him food or in fact why she didn't just let him leave the moment he wanted to maybe it was out of fear that he would die and it would be her fault. Perhaps she really did crave human interaction and she was subconsciously wanting him to stay with her. Either way, one thing was certain, this man would change everything.

One week. It had been one week since she'd seen the red-masked man. One week and a day since she stupidly took the man home with her. And it had been one week of worrying the mafia or some Gotham gang would coming barging in her place in search of the man.

Thankfully, neither had happened as of yet, though it didn't mean she wasn't still concerned for her safety. She wasn't paranoid she just knew something bad would happen to her now that she did a little good deed. Being good, being nice, being social in Gotham is what gets you killed, and truth be told she didn't particularly want to die.

When she had woken up and found that her 'guest' had upped and left leaving little to no evidence he had even been there, only a note with the word '_Thanks_' scared the hell out of her. The realization that he knew where she lived, her name, and the fact he had plenty of time to scope her house, figure out how to break in later hell even the fact he had time to kill her convinced her to never leave her house again.

And for one whole uninterrupted week, she didn't step one foot outside her house. Of course, she wouldn't have to step outside to find trouble.

One night Stephanie had heard a loud '_thud_' coming from the manor's basement. There were only 3 options, go down there and get murdered by some sewer monster, ignore it and get murdered by said monster when she goes to bed, or call the police so they all get murdered by the monster.

Resigning to her fate, she grabbed her desert eagle from the desk and made her way to the basement. Checking she had enough ammo and pocketing some extra she loaded the gun.

It wouldn't do much against someone with reinforced armor or skin, nor someone with magical powers, or have a type of superhero skill like speed, invisibility, flight, or stopping time. But hey, it could harm anyone else a small symbol of hope.

Sneaking down the staircase, she mentally cursed herself for not calling up commissioner Gordon or hell even Barbara would be a good choice too (though she recalled the girl was still recovering after being in a wheelchair for a few years so…). It was really too late to turn back, she was already down there and would be too scared to come back down.

"_CLANG"_

A noise startled her as she whipped around towards the noise. Her eyes widened in recognition of her late-night intruder, the only thought that ran through her head was 'fuck'.

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Jason Todd didn't understand Stephanie Claue, she was strange to him. He'd never officially met the Claue heiress but he did know of her and her parents. He was a good five years older, at least, judging by her appearance it could've been more, then again she might just look young.

He recalled the numerous articles on her parent's death and the major press coverage over the young woman. Jason hadn't given it much thought though, the Claue's were just another bunch of rich aristocratic Gothamites, why would they matter to him? He had other issues to deal with. Truth be told, he didn't even know that the Claue's had a daughter much fewer children before the news went on and on about the mysterious woman.

What Jason did know of the Claue's had mostly come from his time as Robin all those years ago. They were one of the few manors near the Wayne residence and primary kept to themselves, spending and investing their money into things that, while suspicious and questionable, wasn't anything to be concerned about. They weren't part of the mafia nor affiliated with any gangs or villains, they were just some rich snobby people who attended galas and parties never truly caring for the poor of Gotham.

He never thought he'd come face to face with the last member of the Claue family. He didn't quite remember how he got to the infamous manor nor wasn't he completely all there when the realization of who the woman was and the situation he was in. When she had left him laying in the bed, he had become absorbed with the thoughts of getting out of there.

Jason had things to do, people to kill, and a man to find. He couldn't get distracted by some rich girl who was stupid enough to help a stranger, someone who kills for a living basically. No, he couldn't get distracted by some pretty face, she was in fact, nothing more than another face.

But if that was true, why did he return to her home? And more importantly, why the hell was he breaking into her basement like a common cat burglar. He'd shoot himself for his stupidity later he was sure of it.

He hadn't even realized what he was doing when he had found himself climbing into a broken basement window that night. It wasn't until he heard the fast and hesitant footsteps that Jason snapped out of his state.

Jason knew one thing, he had to get out of there. He'd never live it down if Bruce, hell if that brat Damian found out he broke into a strangers house with no cause. Shuffling backward towards the busted window he proceeded to grab hold to what he thought was the ledge unfortunately for him he did not, in fact, grab the ledge of the window, instead he had grabbed an old toaster oven?

His luck proceeded to fail him as the oven fell hitting the floor with a loud clang. _Well, shit fucks_ he thought as the lights flashed on. Turning to dance the one and only Stephanie Claue he said the only thing he could think of, "You have a shit security system"


	3. When You Tried to Be Nice

**Summary**: Living in that old house by yourself is lonely they said. Get a roommate they said. It would be fun they said. Yes well fortunately for herself the clowns, sirens, doctors, lawyers, armed assassins, birds, and even bats have decided to make her big "scary house" Gothams #1 crashing pad, how lucky. She should've just opened that damn coffee shop instead

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**Disclaimer**: I do not own/affiliated with DC comics etc

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**A/N**: Sorry for the delay! I was attending Wizard World this past weekend and I had originally meant to post this but I was con crunching haha!

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She hadn't been sure why the red-haired woman she met yesterday was still in her home. In fact, Stephanie Claue was unsure about a lot of things, and she knew for a fact it's all because she went outside.

After the late-night encounter with the Red Hood, as he said the papers called him (she had then proceeded to google him), he had told her to upgrade her security. He claimed that 'a woman like you shouldn't be alone in a place like this, who knows what she could be up to,' and claiming her security was ''fucking shit' therefore had taken it upon himself to not only upgrade but rewired her entire security system for her. The action was, _nice_, did Stephanie want it? No, absolutely not but it wasn't as if she was going to say no to a would be the assassin that could kill her 30 different ways in under a minute.

It was the following night, after his break-in, that he returned with cases of different wires and tools and had not only upgraded her security around the property but had made a nest in her basement what she could only think of was like a man cave. The whole thing happened so quickly that she didn't even realize what he had done to it all until she had brought him food one night only to get face to face with walls of computer monitors, cameras and an assortment of different gadgets the likes she'd never seen before.

"What the fuck is this?" She asked the man who had _graciously_ taken the food from her hand's he wheeled back to what he was doing.

"Oh, this? Nothing much, just a few things of no importance." He replied munching on the sandwich and typing something she could only presume was code onto one of the screens.

"Okay," she drawled out stepping over a few of the wires towards the Red Hood, "that still isn't much you know, let me rephrase, _what the FUCK is this_?!" She asked gesturing to the whole of her basement.

The man spun around to face her, his eyes boring into her own dark ones, "Do you really want to know?" He asked her seriously his eyebrows narrowing almost egging her to say ''yes'.

She sighed knowing that, of course, because she did a good thing by saving some man and then _BAM_! He turns out to be some crazed tech genius that killed people, it was only in Gotham something like that would happen. The mysterious man who called himself the Red Hood, a silly name in her opinion though she knew it could've been far worse, was some vigilante that was only recently making headlines in the last few months in both Gotham and Bludhaven. Her researching the man only caused her more issues from the more she had found out about what he did and was still doing, almost getting a heart attack when he had popped up behind with a deep 'Boo'. While he didn't disclose much to her, she gauged a few things from him and little by little he revealed small details to her, even still there was a lot she didn't know about him, he wasn't a hero but he wasn't some heinous villain either.

She shook her head, "Nevermind," in truth the less she knew the better, especially with both Commissioner Gordon and Barbara dropping by every now again, "If anyone asks I knew nothing."

The Red Hooded nodded, before turning back to his hundreds of monitors, dismissing her, "Smart answer, spoken a true Gothamite." Rolling her eyes she took the empty plate and made her way upstairs only to falter by a quiet but clear, "Thank you". She left the basement with a smile on her face, even if he was eating everything in her home.

After that interaction, Stephanie didn't see the Red Hood again for several days. Not that she minded though, as the man had seemingly eaten more food then she had in two months in the span of a week, and while she would have upped the amount of food she could order to be delivered, it was a tad too suspicious. She wouldn't put it past the police force to be monitoring her online orders, which included food (it was no secret the number of bizarre things rich people bought which usually ended up being part of some villainous scheme). And she knew, that being a five foot five woman who could barely eat everything she ordered for the last seven months to all of a sudden stockpiling and tripling the amount she purchased previously it either meant she was creating an apocalypse bunker, hiding a fugitive, or possibly pregnant. And from those options, two of which seemed a lot more (sadly) reasonable than the other.

Rallying up her courage, she grabbed the car keys and drove off to purchase more food. Unfortunately for herself, Stephanie had forgotten to clean out the blood that a certain stray she picked up left. Although fate seemed to have been looking down on her, as she was able to complete her shopping quickly, no crazy clown gangs, no massive robots or aliens, not even a bank robbery, yet. While she did have to chase a few kids away from her car, they had been trying to break in which was a normal after school activity many from Gotham public did, everything seemed to be going just fine.

The sky was clear, sun shining, and Stephanie had decided, what with her good luck riding off the high of not being involved in some criminal activity, had detoured to a small flower shop. Her garnderś birthday was in a few days and thought it would do well to get new supplies and seeds for the older man.

When she entered the green painted shop, she was met with a strange loud bang coming from the back room, almost causing her to bolt but stayed where she was when smiling, but a slightly dissolved looking woman came out and asked if she needed help finding anything.

After telling the woman what she was searching for, the woman had quickly gathered up the items as Stephanie went to purchase. The woman was friendly enough, her long red hair was pulled in a messy bun while the large glasses on the bridge of her nose kept slipping off, but she paid no attention to it, even in hindsight was a bit suspicious.

She should guess something was up when the woman's fingers lingered on the name of her credit card, probably recognizing the name Claue much to Stephanieś embarrassment with the whole affair. When another noise came from the back room, almost like yelling and a broken cry, the woman had quickly left to check on it when Stephanie caught a glimpse of something green curling out from beneath of the woman's shirt. It didn't take much else for her to come to the glaring realization that something was very, very, very wrong and as fast as she could out a hasty 'thank you' before driving off home.

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The sound of the front door opening jolted Stephanie awake as she looked at the time on her phone which read 11:39 pm. Knowing that no one else had (or should have) the password combos, she didn't bother to go check on it.

"There's food in the kitchen if your hungry" she called out assuming that by the time it had to be her nightly visitor, as the door to her study open, her back facing away from it, "Something you needed Red Hood-?"

"Oh Red Hood? Why I haven't that name in a while, do you mean Jason Todd?"

Stephanie whipped around as fast as she could, her eyes widening as instead of her late night acquaintance stood the beautiful woman she had seen early that day. The one whose hair was redder than blood, none other than Poison Ivy.

While Stephanie never made a note to know any names of heroes (unless it was the big three) nor their villains (except for a few like the Joker, Lex Luthor, and Brainiac) that was until she met the Red Hood or Jason Todd she supposed. After then she had searched up everything she could on the villains that plagued both Gotham and some of the surrounding cities. She should've known that woman was Poison Ivy, one of the infamous Gotham City Sirens, a criminal that had been around since she was in high school and even a little before then.

She looked confused at the woman's entrance, still startled by her appearance, "What are you doing here?" She stuttered, "not like I'm mad or anything- well actually yes how did you even get in?" She recalled the new security upgrade the Red Hood had done, saying it was impossible to break in though clearly, it was false as the villainess was stood in front of her.

The red-haired seductress arched a brow, "Oh that was easy. It's odd that you've got a very similar security that a bat I know has, how interesting," she mused her bright green eyes staring deeply into hers as she leisurely walked towards her smiling, "I'm here because, I heard from the vines that you were looking for a roommate and I thought I'd come by to see the place, _Ms. Claue."_

Standing her ground, though the fear and nervousness seemed to eat her resolve quickly inside she stuttered out a what, "I'm sorry Ms uh-"

"Ivy, Poison Ivy as I'm sure you've guessed by now."

Reaching towards her desk drawer just in case, only to remember the gun she had was still in her bedroom after the last break-in. Cursing silently she reverting her attention back to the waiting-woman, "Right, Ivy, well I'm not sure how you or where you heard that but I'm no longer looking for a roommate and to be honest I wasn't in need of one before. I'm sorry if you wasted your time coming here."

Instead of looking dejected, Poison Ivy let out a chuckle, "I see. Well, I suppose I should be on my way but unfortunately, I find myself with no place to stay, and I was so _dead _set on staying here at least for the night. And you don't seem like the person to throw a poor woman out at this hour, who knows what could happen to someone like me and well," she paused coming even closer as the older woman pulled out a large back and dumping it on her desk, "I have enough to pay for the night at least."

Stephanie eyed the bag surprise and confusion hitting her face, "If you have the money why don't you get a place to stay? Or a hotel perhaps-" she gave her a look as if asking if she was stupid, "-Oh right no that was a silly thing to say," forgetting the woman was a criminal and therefore it would be hard to find a repeatable place to live or stay and any other places would no doubt sell her out to the cops or other villains at a higher price. Knowing her hands were tied, much like how it was with the Red Hood's she resigned.

Ivy, feeling Stephanie's submission only smiled, "So tell me," she leaned into Stephanie's face to the point where she could feel her breath brush up and tickle her skin, her fingers tracing the stacks of money she had placed down, "do I get to stay?"

If she hadn't been blushing before, she certainly was now, her face she only guessed was beyond scarlet, "Yes. But only until you can find a place alright? And I have ground rules you will follow." The woman nodded before going off on her own to find a room much to Stephanie's ire of screaming to wait for her, silently cursing and hoping the poisonous villainess left as soon as she could.

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"No, you can stay as long as you need to and I don't get dragged into something illegal alright?" Stephanie found herself telling the woman while disinfecting the stabbed woman on Poison Ivy's' leg.

For three days, Stephanie had avoided the woman in her manor, keeping away when she could. She didn't hate Poison Ivy, but she didn't have much love for the villain either, although the same went vice versa. The villainess had stayed longer than Stephanie would have liked, and while there was plenty of room for more people, the maximum amount the Claue Manor could hold was a couple dozen residents (though most of the rooms were unfinished and in no state for guests), it didn't mean she wanted her in her home, not like she would throw her out.

It was on the third day when a loud crash had interrupted Stephanie, startling her quickly as she hurried down to the foyer where she saw a window broken and blood on the floor. When she had a closer look, past the couch was Ivy, covered in glass shards, what looked like a set of frozen restraints and blood pooling around her, she had been stabbed, twice.

Before she knew it, she had the red-haired woman in her arms, a first aid kit beside her and was plucking out and disinfecting the glass took a while to convince the woman that she meant no harm, having to avoid the venomous vines that tried to swipe at her in vain.

After a few minutes of fussing and avoiding being impaled by plants, Ivy had finally calmed down and had begrudgingly allowed Stephanie to tend to the wounds. With the suffocating silence, she had gathered up enough courage to speak to the injured woman. It took a while for her to open up back but once she did Ivy had begun conversing back. While Stephanie hadn't meant to feel sympathy for her, she ended up relating and almost pitying what occurred to her and decided to let her stay at the manor with her.

"And you can take the money you gave me back alright? The universe knows I have plenty of it and probably most of it is blood money I don't need more of."

"Yes, the Claue's were known for supporting many ventures that endangered and killed many people. They funded the asylum," Ivy stated bitterly, eyes darkening.

Sterilizing the needle she only nodded agreeing, "Yes, that was one of the reasons I ranaw-uh left though it didn't do much good as I'm back in Gotham surviving off my parent's endeavors."

Silence fell between the two as the woman looked off distantly before replying with a soft, "Good parents are hard to come by."

"True, we make do with what we got," she paused, "This is going to hurt do you want pain killers or-?"

"No, those things don't work on me, not after everything that's happened to my body."

"Right."

She raised a brow hissing a bit from the stitching, "Something you find amusing Ms. Claue?"

She shook her head smiling a bit, "Yeah, this is the second time in the last month I've stitched a stranger back together, the last time before then, was back in high school."

"High school?" she asked intrigued though clenched her teeth in pain.

Before she could answer Stephanie was interrupted by the sound of the front door to the manor swing open again with a loud '_'slam'_. Ivy and her exchanged looks as a set of heavy sounding footsteps approached.

"Oi Stephanie glad to see my upgrades to the security are still in place but a message popped up saying that there was a recorded breac-What the fuck-?"

Stephanie sheepishly looked at the newcomer, clad in his trademark black and red, the Red Hood otherwise known as Jason Todd, "Jason, didn't think I'd see you so soon. Why not come in and make yourself at home, not like you haven't done that all week."

Ignoring her commented, Jason walked past her, stopping in front of Ivy and pushing Stephanie in behind himself in what was almost a protective stance, "You shouldn't be here, Pamela. What is your plan? Trying to manipulate the Claue heiress? Seduce her naive nature and then kill her for her money? She's a Gothamite, loaded with cash, well her parent's money she didn't really do shit-"

Ivy laughed, "Oh please! I'm not the kind to kill women, but that is a very good point, I can make exceptions to my rules. Besides, you are right, she is a bit too kind-hearted seeing how she saved both of us bat boy."

Jason whipped out one of the guns on his side holster aiming it straight in Ivy's face, though she paid no attention to it, "I'm. Not. A. Fucking. Bat. Boy. I will never be that man's sidekick ever again, you hear me? Or should I pull a few more ear holes for ya?" He glared through the mask rolling his eyes, "Makes sense, she's terrible at keeping to herself, her luck must be awful to run into us."

It was Stephanie's turn to glare at the two, her cheeks turning bright red as she tried speaking up, "Now wait just a minute if I hadn't-"

"Agreed, her niceness is going to get her killed, next time she'll probably tale home Killer Croc!" the redhead added, the venus fly trap on her back opening up and smiling menacingly at Jason.

"Nah, she's fucking scared of the big lizard, some dumb shit story about from her childhood involving sewers, it's real stupid. Knowing her she'll run into like Atrocious and-"

"-And this rich naive girl is right here so you can both shut up now?" She piped through the latter part coming out as a question when her two 'roommates' turned to her at the same time, their selective weapons both turning towards her, "And to answer your question, Ivy is here to rent out one of the rooms, as we all are aware the manor has dozens because my great grandfather was dropped on his head and had to sleep in a different room each night or he would kill himself cause-" the two gave her look, "Right rambling, uh she's staying here and so since you two seem to have" she coughed, "_history_ I have decided that as long as you are in the Claue Manor you are forbidden to fight, got it?" Stephanie added, finally being able to find her voice and placing her foot door on the matter.

Ivy's fly trap closed its mouth, curling back up and scurrying back under her hair as she nodded, agreeing to the terms, "Reasonable, but I ask the same rules extend to the greenhouse and the gardens, other than that I agree to the terms and I'm sure little baby Jason does to."

Said man only groaned under his mask pushing past both women, "You know what? I'm just going to go downstairs, I'm too sober to deal with this shit right now-" he paused, "You have alcohol right?"

Stephanie nodded still processing the events that just happened, "Uh yeah my dad owned a vineyard in Smallville, we have cases down-"

And quick like a bat, Jason hurried out of her study calling out a fast thanks and that he will try to leave some for her. "-stairs. Oh great, I've got a drunk vigilante living in my basement, just kill me now."

"As long as I'm first on your will, I'll do it."

Stephanie screeched.


	4. Shopping & Explosions, Only in Gotham

**Summary**: Living in that old house by yourself is lonely they said. Get a roommate they said. It would be fun they said. Yes well fortunately for herself the clowns, sirens, doctors, lawyers, armed assassins, birds, and even bats have decided to make her big "scary house" Gothams #1 crashing pad, how lucky. She should've just opened that damn coffee shop instead

* * *

**Warnings**: Mentions of fighting, death, explosions, and mayhem, the usual in Gotham tbh

* * *

It was an odd relationship the three residents of the Claue Manor shared.

On one hand, it was somewhat nice for Stephanie, having the company while at the same time she couldn't help the creeping feeling that she was just waiting for a tie bomb to erupt from her 'roommates'. After the first few days, once both Jason and Ivy (although the villainess didn't particularly mind her calling her Pamela, had threatened to castrate Jason if he called her that) gotten past the whole 'you're the villain/problem/good guy (?)' thing the two ended up on an agreement.

What kind of agreement was it? Well since neither would let Stephanie in on it, she could only assume it was something to do with her home becoming a neutral grounds of sorts, ensuring both her and her manor's safety and well being. However, that still didn't stop the daily exchange of glares, sneers, and not so subtle insults, the later of which was from Ivy as the vigilante didn't quite know what that word meant.

It was on one of those days that Stephanie, once again found herself needing to go out into the Gotham streets to grab a few items (like things to repair a giant gaping hole in the basement floor, more gardening tools, and compost since somehow they're all gone, another wi-fi monitor since the last three all stopped for totally normal and unrelated reasons, and somehow all 269 bottles of wine her father had stowed away were all empty, who knows how).

And so getting into her car and driving back into Gotham, she made sure not to go out of her way to do anything this time. No last minute shops r creepy buildings, no alleyways or back routes, she had one thing in mind, no more roommates.

Of course, that wasn't to say that she didn't enjoy their company. It was nice having a man who could you 42 different ways with a pencil and a woman who could literally become mother nature and torture you with the most painful poisons in the world as your roommate, certainly, it was a grand time. But in Stephanie's mind, two was probably enough people, it wasn't like she was some hotel service or crashing pad, the thought sends shivers down her spine.

So with that all in mind, she went about her afternoon shopping fairly quickly and by early evening she was practically done. Sure there were times she could've stopped, the aquarium had just been rebuilt and its grand opening was that day, the museum just received new cat shaped artifacts from Egypt, Gotham University's science department was unveiling a new space rock discovery. While all were interesting, to say the least, she couldn't help but steer clear of the events, having automatically sorted them under ''potential danger and villain encounters' list.

Now Stephanie probably should've gone straight home, there was a need to stay in the city any longer but necessary, despite that she decided to pop into one of the new boutiques that opened up in the Glass Towers. What was the harm in a little clothes shopping?

…..

As it turned out, shopping was not a good idea. Who would've thought some foreign rich woman would decide to shop at the Glass Towers, the exact same time as Stephanie? Who would've guessed that the woman's fiance was part of a foreign mafia which he oh so happened to be the leader of. And of course, no one could have foreseen that he had a few billion dollars on his head.

It was completely logical and not at all stupid that the pair thought that Gotham, the city of crime, thievery, death, and the monopoly over the criminal underground for all the United States, was the _perfect_ place to go on a shopping spree of course.

And to everyone's shock and absolute horror, a group of generic low-life hitman and kidnappers came after the rich woman and had conveniently decided to hold everyone in the store hostage. Then when the mafia fiance refused to pay the ransom even at the threat of murdering his beloved fiance, well, things quickly exploded, literally.

Stephanie wasn't sure when the gunfire started or when the smoke bombs where released but amidst the chaos she had somehow found the emergency stairs, bolting down them to escape. However, while fleeing down, she came to an abrupt halt at the sight of an armored clad man.

Dressed in black and orange armor, rounds of bullets hung from his shoulders and an assortment of blades and guns were strapped all over his body, from his back to chest to his thick thighs. His muscles bulged underneath his suit while his face was hidden by a hood like mask similar to a certain vigilante she knew.

Cursing both fate and her mouth, Stephanie didn't even register the soft question of, "..Jason..?" escape her lips before she quickly covered her mouth in horror. Of course, this man wasn't Jason, even if he did look like the red hood, the colors were wrong, though her voice did grab his attention as the man's head snapped towards her. Without another thought, she darted back up the stairs away from the man.

In what felt like a few moments, Stephanie burst through the roof doors with a loud _bang_. However, the burst of adrenaline that was once coursing through her vanished like that when she came face to face with the man she had tried to run from, lovely.

Her throat tightens and eyes widened unsure what to do. Though before anything could leave her mouth, he pulled a gun off his back and pointed it at her as he pulled the trigger. When the gun went off, Stephanie felt nothing but the roaring sound of the bullet chamber releasing straight into her eardrums as she felt the pressure of a hand wrap around her wrist yanking her forward and slamming her against something stiff and hard.

Cracking open her eyes, she realized that one, she wasn't dead, and two, catching a quick glimpse behind her as her eyes caught the sight of the mafia leader and his fiance, surrounded by bodyguards. There was nothing else she could do as the man, who she believed had to have been one of the many hitman and assassins that plagued the world, began unleashing his a round of bullets onto them without a second thought.

It couldn't have been more than ten seconds before the screaming, cries, and bangs ended. When she was sure she wouldn't end up in the fray of fighting, Stephanie cocked her head, forehead leaning up against the underside of the man's hood like mask.

Unsure what to do, Stephanie did and said the only thing that came to mind at that moment. "So uh- come here often?"

The assassin only stared at her through his mask, she could only imagine what he was thinking as he proceeded to throw her off the rooftop.

Before a single syllable or sound could erupt from her throat the man had quickly grabbed her as he swung them to the ground, Stephanie having been forced into a hazardous somersault, "What the flying fuc-"

_**BOOM**_

Before she could finish her sentence, the sky above became enveloped in crawling yellow and orange flames. Debris and glass rained down as the large smoke cloud covered the night air, no doubt gaining the attention of the resident's heroes who would be there in a few minutes if that. Regaining her footing, Stephanie couldn't help but shoot a look at the black and orange colored man as he could only watch the scene as he chatted in some other language through an earpiece, completely ignoring her.

Debating whether or not to stick around, yeah like hell she would, Stephanie as quietly and fastly as she could hobble, ventured down the alleyway, only for mere moments later to feel the ground shake beneath her as another startling explosion went off, causing her to fall face forward into the filth covered ground.

Lifting her head up, her hair most certainly looks liking rats nest by that point, groaned as she tried to push herself off the pavement only for something large and heavy smack into the back of her head. Her face once again being smashed against the alleyway before her vision cut out into black.

* * *

Very similar to the movies, Stephanie awoke to bright warm lights spilling into her senses as it took her a few minutes to catch her bearings. Finding herself laying face up in her bedroom, and not in some jail cell as she thought she might've been, it posed a new concern, how and more importantly, what the fuck happened. A part of her wondered if she had been in jail and her, oh so lovely roommates who would _never_ and have _never_ broken out of jail before, contributed to how she got back to the Claue manor. However, after thinking it over, the idea though logical was rather stupid as if that were the case the police would've easily tracked her down again, considering she was unconscious (although given some of the cops who were part of the Gotham task force, she wouldn't have been too surprised).

Rolling out of bed, noticing that thankfully her clothes had been changed (which she assumed hopefully must've been Ivy), Stephanie quickly changed into more presentable clothing, and checking the extent of her injuries which was only a few scratches and cuts and just a football-sized bump on the back of her head nothing much, she made her way downstairs. Finding both the parlor and the ballroom empty, she entered the kitchen to find a most bizarre and almost cartoon-like scene.

Lounging on the kitchen island sat her red-haired roommate Ivy, poised and camera ready, watering the plants that she had installed a few days prior to 'liven up' and 'add extra security since Jason's system is hackable'. In front of her, reading the morning paper with, was 100% _not_ coffee, sat her vigilante resident, Jason. However, what surprised her the most was standing behind the stove, back turned to her was a tall gray-haired man with a beard and the same black and orange armored man had one of her mother's old aprons tied around his waist and was, flipping pancakes?

Most likely having noticed her approach, the trio all turned around or looked up to face her in the same moment, nearly freaking Stephanie out in the process. "Good morning everyone, I guess?" She guessed, assuming that it had to have been the following day since the 'incident that unceremonially knocked her out'.

Jason laughed first, "Its actually 10 pm you've been out cold for" he rolled his eyes to the stove clock, "-about 18 hours, good job Claue, you got k.o. by a piece of wood, I'm very proud of you."

Ignoring his added comment, she only huffed as her attention fell upon Starcity's resident assassin Deathstroke. Having noted her interest the man only nodded, "You were knocked out pretty hard. Didn't think your _friends_ here would be too pleased with me leaving you in the alleyway right underneath a murder and arson investigation. I unlocked your phone found where you lived, and since I had a pre-existing need to talk with Red Hood here, I stayed for a bit. Pancake?"

She could only stare at him and his offer of pancakes as she nodded slightly while he plated them for her. Ivy, having jumped off the counter with ease and grace, stalked over to Stephanie, the action still causing butterflies to grow amass in her gut, as the woman noted the sorry state of her hair before telling her that she'll take her somewhere to get it fixed that night, as "they only work at night when it's the safest too" after which she then sauntered out of the kitchen to put on a bit more clothing.

After sitting down at the table with a stack of pancakes and chowing down on them while Jason and Deathstroke, no first or last name as it may pose a threat to her not as if her housing him was any better, fell into a discussion about things that Stephanie truly didn't need or should know, at least from the sounds of it as they were using hushed voices and some variation of a code.

When she was done, having washed up the dishes Deathstroke had left the room, and most likely down to one of the main rooms, left only herself and Jason alone together.

His hand was on top of the table, his legs spread out in the chair as a very empty expression befell his face, she did as he usually does in that situation where he would close off, she tried to slip out of the room. However, as she made it passed the threshold of the white double doors, a loud 'slam' echoed through the kitchen as she could hear his hands smack the table, and his chair scooting.

Jason huffed grabbing Stephanie's attention. Pulling her back towards the kitchen, while grabbing one of the apples, "I'll be going somewhere tomorrow morning and I will most likely be gone a week at least. I'm telling you this so you don't get worried when I don't show up for a week or two, God knows you fuss." He told her staring straight into her eyes before biting into the apple. "And telling your renter if you leave is normal right?"

She only raised a brow, "Thanks for... telling...me?" Stephanie asked before smacking him on his shoulder, "Hey wait a minute! _Renter_?! You're not even paying rent, you just show up here randomly at least Ivy pays rent! And Deathstroke, well, he made breakfast so he contributes...I think...?" She added, the last part coming off as a question rather than a statement as she thought about while also recalling that she did tell her not to pay rent, not like Jason needed to know that fact.

Sputtering Jason almost looked offended by her claim, admittedly shaking his head, his eyes narrowing behind his eye mask, "Oh no, don't you fucking say that! I upgraded your security system, that itself is worth at least a year of rent! No one else in the world has that system, it's like an upgraded version of Batmans and-"

"Hold the phone! Batman? What does that mean? Did you hack into Batmans? Actually, don't answer that, I do not want to know-" she paused stepping towards him as he walked back from her, bumping into the kitchen island, trapping him behind it, "-And no one asked you to upgrade the system! You did that on your own Jason-!"

Muttering under his breath something along the lines of 'doing a good deed' and 'fuck heroism', "Yea yea whatever, not the point. Just don't go sending out a missing person on me if I don't come back by next week alight?" He restated taking his hand and placing it on the brunettes head as he physically moved her to his side. Making his way to the backdoor exit he added, "Don't do anything stupid okay? No more going out to town and almost getting blown up, you're not some hero got it? And no more bringing home strays alright? Pamela and Slade I'll let slide but no more got it Claue?"

Before Stephanie could answer him, the red and black-clad male disappeared into the dark Gotham night, leaving her standing alone in the kitchen eyes staring at where he was only moments ago.

.

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**A/N:** Meant to get this chapter out earlier but I got busy with school haha. Anyways are there any specific villains/heroes/characters from DC ya'll be interested in seeing? I do have a list though I'm curious if there are any specific ones I should add!


	5. One, Two, Three Sirens

**Summary: **Living in that old house by yourself is lonely they said. Get a roommate they said. It would be fun they said. Yes well fortunately for herself the clowns, sirens, doctors, lawyers, armed assassins, birds, and even bats have decided to make her big "scary house" Gothams #1 crashing pad, how lucky. She should've just opened that damn coffee shop instead

* * *

It had all begun as a normal afternoon in the Claue Manor. Ivy was in the greenhouse, having taken over the lustrous lands that surrounded the manor and spent the majority of her time in there. Deathstroke had gone out on a 'quite afternoon stroll' as he put it, and had asked if a 'friend' of his could spend the night, to which Stephanie still not too keen on more residents or roommates weighed the fact that if it whoever the assassin brought home would (hopefully) be similar in manner and personality as him and so cautiously agreed.

And Stephanie herself? Well, she had done as Jason told her, she stayed home and hadn't even stepped one foot off the Claue property, instead Netflixing movies and shows for the last three days. Sure, she could've left and gone into town or gone to visit friends in Central City or Metropolis, but then again there was seemed to be a high chance that if she did, then she'd be returning with some crocodile or gorilla villain.

After the four movies of the day, something outside of the window grabbed her attention. Before she could get a good look outside, a flash of red and black filled her line of vision. A large pressure hit her chest as she fell off the couch and onto the carpet, whatever it was, was know on top of her.

"I know she's here! Tell me where she is. _WHERE. IS. RED_?!"

What the fuck was the first thought Stephanie had as she stared up at the thing that had just tackled her. Dressed in black and red, hair split down the middle and two-toned, and a giant blue and red painted bat in hand, she knew exactly who was on top of her, Harley fucking psycho Quinn.

She opened her mouth, trying to answer the practically deranged woman only for the said person to wrap a hand around her throat, the pressure building so much Stephanie feared her neck would pop.

".._.can't...breathe….ne..ed...ai...r_" She choked out trying to claw at the studded gloved hand but it didn't do much as it only seemed to grip tighter to it.

The red and black haired woman hissed, "Not until you tell me where Red is! I know you're keeping her from me! Trying to steal her away you-"

She restrained a roll of her eyes, partially out of fear that they would burst if she moved them, Stephanie sucked in as much as she could and screeched out a rather hoarse but ear-piercing cry, "IVY!"

Within seconds of her screaming, which seemed to echo through the mansion's hallways and could probably be heard from down the road, her red-haired resident appeared at the door with a beyond irritated look on her face.

"Oh Red! There you are! I was looking everywhere for-"

The pressure and hand on Stephanie vanished as she caught a glimpse of Harley being yanked off of her and backed on to the couch. "Harley," growled Ivy, "What. On. Mother. Earth's. Name. Are. You. Doing?!"

The villain gulped sputtering out, "I came to rescue you Red, I looked all over for ya but you were gone and so I was-" Her words got cut off when the large green tendrils that would sometimes appear out o the back of Ivy's outfits came to life, opening up as a pair of double Venus flytraps who were salivating at the sight of Harley.

It was at that moment Stephanie decided it was her cue to leave, rushing out of the room not even sparing a glance at the fearful looking Harley Quinn and furious Poison Ivy, lover's dispute or something, best leave out of it she thought.

It was a few hours later that Stephanie carefully and cautiously made it downstairs to the kitchen. Hearing no noises or screams, be it in pain or….well…, she thought the coast had to be clear. Popping her head into the parlor seeing it empty and the broken window (which seemed to be becoming a thing of breaking it every two weeks) replaced, she decided to go make some dinner.

Of course, halfway through it didn't take long for Stephanie to be interrupted by a set of familiar faces. Ivy and Harley and...Catwoman?

"Uh hi?" she said furrowing her brows confused at the appearance of not just her usual Gotham City Siren but all three in fact right before her very eyes.

Ivy was the first to speak up, "Someone here wants to apologize for earlier, isn't that right Harls?"

Said woman gulped vocally before looking straight into Stephanie's eyes and grabbing her hands abruptly, "I'm so so so so sorry! I thought you were taking away Red and I just was so scared and I didn't mean to hurt ya, I just-"

"You're going to break the girl's hands at this rate," Catwoman interjected towards Harley probably noticing the painful looking paleness of Stephanie's hands and wrists which, of course, was proceeded in even more apologizes and hugs from the frantic black and red-haired villain. Great.

"Catwoman, but I'm sure you've heard of me?" Came the leather wearing cat masked woman with a devious smile as she held out her razor sharp clawed nailed hand, "I do hope you don't mind the intrusion, it's just been a while since all us girls have hung out. We promise not to get in your way, Ms. Claue."

Even though the woman smiled sweetly, Stephanie couldn't help the dropping of her stomach as she shook the woman's head telling them it was no problem at all. At least that was how it started out as, as soon she found herself no longer making dinner, instead Stephanie was dragged into the family room that had become dumped with clothing, makeup, and copious vials of liquids that she could only hope were perfumes (turns out they weren't, because _nothing normal _could ever be in a skull-shaped vial) and plopped onto the carpet by Harley.

She had somehow found herself looped into a "Siren's Girl's Night" which in simpler terms meant, 'we have the excuse to turn Stephanie into a Barbie doll and she can't say shit cause we could kill her before she even noticed her heart missing' night. And that was how a certain assassin clad in his usual armor of navy and orange found her, straddled by a clown, hair being pulled this way and that by a venus fly traps, and her nails basically becoming glorified weapons.

The awkward thing wasn't the fact that half her face was doused in white face paint, nor was the six-inch knives attached to her left hand or her hair resembling a demonic pinup girl, no Deathstroke was used to crazy things happening, it was the fact that his guest, on the other hand, seemed a bit less enthusiastic with the scene. And if Stephanie didn't know better, looked almost nervous at the sight of a certain clown girl.

"Uh, Deadshot. Thanks for letting me stay here for a bit," the man, Deadshot as he introduced, told Stephanie as she only nodded, seemingly becoming numb by the random people who had started going in and out of the manor.

"I'd shake your hand out, I think I'm a little preoccupied" she replied awkwardly while struggling with Harley who still dominated her, straddling her waist and trying to do Stephanie's makeup.

She couldn't see his facial expression, neither Deadshot nor Deathstroke had their faces visible, their masks covering them, but from his body posture, he looked very uncomfortable, "No problem. You-" he coughed, "_ladies_, have fun?"

"Aww, your so sweet Floyd! Hear that Red? He called us _ladies_!" Harley exclaimed still trying to put the bright red lipstick on Stephanie, "No need to be so shy Mr. D, we've got history to remember?"

Floyd or Deadshot, merely looked away as Deathstroke chuckled at his friend before the two left Stephanie with the all so caring hands of the infamous Gotham Sirens.

"Now the men are gone, makeover time!"

Stephanie groaned, wishing she had opened the coffee shop at least then she wouldn't have had to deal with murders and crazy clown girls. Resigning as Harley pounced on her face with the array of haphazard cosmetics, she knew that this was going to be a long night.

.

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* * *

**A/N:** If ya'll are interested, I have another DC Comics villain based fanfiction called, "_The Autograph Challenge_, if any of you are interested! It's similar to this that there are many characters, but are more character pov based then OC based!


	6. Sleep? Never Heard of Her

**Summary: **Living in that old house by yourself is lonely they said. Get a roommate they said. It would be fun they said. Yes well fortunately for herself the clowns, sirens, doctors, lawyers, armed assassins, birds, and even bats have decided to make her big "scary house" Gothams #1 crashing pad, how lucky. She should've just opened that damn coffee shop instead

* * *

.

.

Apparently, the term "friend" could mean a lot of things. Friend could mean someone your close with, a person you share secrets with and enjoy company, could mean your allies with one another, and what that term means to a pair of armored clad assassins, it meant: **person I would kill if it weren't for being scammed by the same employer **and therefore shared enemies makes us best friends, or some stupid thing along those lines.

Stephanie had never thought that when she allowed Deathstroke, who up until that point was a stellar renter, paid in full, never asked for anything and chipped in with cooking every now and again, to bring a friend she thought it would be fine. And when she met the guy, Floyd seemed like a decent guy. A bit too done with Harley's antics and beyond the point of dealing with all three sirens (as Catwoman and Harley thought it would be best to keep Ivy company, even though, you know STEPHANIE NEVER AGREED TO IT), something she could honestly relate to. She thought the two men got along well, for the first six hours, until almost shoot her in the face and throw a chicken out a window, guessed they played her as she, along with the sirens found the two having a shoot out in the third ballroom (there were five in total for each floor).

Needless to say, Stephanie nearly had a heart attack seeing them with fully automatic machinery, flipping them around and shooting with the intent to kill circling the room. It took the intrusion of Catwoman's whip and Ivy's vines to put a stop to it, while Harley, she tackled pounced Floyd to the ground. After a look talking and scolding she gave them as well as a rule reminder seeing how she had three new residents she didn't have a day before. Once the rundown was done, Stephanie, exhausted from the whole affair dragged herself upstairs and into bed.

She didn't get a lot of sleep that night.

Waking up at 3 am to the loud screams from the basement, Stephanie threw a pillow over her ears. By 4 am the sounds of the smoke alarms filled her eardrums as she let out an irritated sigh, and by 7 am she couldn't take it anymore as she forced herself out of bed to address the sound.

When she entered the second floor's movie room, she was greeted with a very, very staged sight. Ivy was perched against a couch, Harley on her lap who was turned from her, as Catwoman laid in a _totally_ comfortable back-breaking position on one of the movie stands. Deadshot and Deathstroke were seated next to each other, masks off and completely genuine looking smiles that were certainly not terrifying to look at.

She raised her brow, "Don't mind me, you know not like this is my house or anything." With that, the group of five just watched her as she exited the room. In was perhaps a few minutes later that the noise once again skyrocketed from the room as she groaned in annoyance.

Returning to her room to throw on some clothes and grabbing her car keys, Stephanie decided the best course of action was seeing if one of her friends, or at least of the few that wasn't dead, in jail, in Arkham, turned to a biochemical experiment, or have been MIA, aka the only one not stupid enough to get caught would let her crash there for a few hours.

Was she technically going against Jason's word? Well, she wasn't exactly going into the city, her friend lived out the outskirts of the city and therefore the likeliness of Stephanie running into any villains or crazed criminals was low, probably.

After shooting a quick text and receiving confirmation that she could sleep on her friend's couch, she willfully hoed into her car and drove about 20 minutes to her friend's place.

Her friends place, the Galavan Residence, was a modernized three-story house with a built-in pool and three movie theaters. The Galavan heiress, Paula Galavan daughter of millionaire Theo Galavan was one of the few people who still lived in Gotham that Stephanie was relatively close with. Having grown up with her, as their parents were close business partners and the epitome of Gothamites through and through, the two were brought up very alike.

Entering the password into the security gate and driving up to the house's front, Stephanie entered the house and then proceeded to jump onto the overgrown leather couch in the tv room. Not even caring about her shoes or coat, she fell into a peaceful slumber.

_**ZAP**_

Her eyes opened slowly as she turned over, perhaps she was just hearing things.

_**Zap**_

Or maybe not she thought as Stephanie sat up and looked around the house. Nothing was there, Paula was gone for the whole morning as she had to deal with Gotham's electoral college about, the maids (to which she herself would have to deal with the Claue one's next week as she had given them and Donovan the gardener an _extended_ month long vacation) were off for the day and from what she knew the Galavan's didn't own any pets.

"Boo!"

Insticetvly, Stephanie smacked the unknown voice with her fist only to be met with a jolting zap that ran through her. Snatching her hand away to her chest, her eyes met the face of a blue-skinned woman with electrifying hair and dark eyes, and lips twisted in an amused look.

"Been a while since someone's it me huh." was all the woman said before turning around to the tv, "Don't mind if I turn on something," and without even touching the remote, the flat screen zapped to life.

While in most cases, Stephanie would've been out the door in two seconds flat, in the sleepless state she groggily asked, "Who are you?"

"Radio Shocks's only decent host, Live Wire!" she exclaimed doing a small twirl as electricity ran along her body theatrically, "and don't bother telling me who you, I already know. You're pretty popular aren't you Miss Claue."

"Right," she responded drawing out the word, deciding that perhaps it would've been smarter if he had ditched earlier, "And why's that Live Wire?"

Said woman smirked as she flipped onto one of the armchairs leaning back in it, "Oh you know, whispers here and there, I'm not actually from the Gotham scene, not my type of heroes, the bat theme is silly, but I was curious to hear that my dearest friend Pamela had found a permanent resident and thought I'd check it out," electricity ran from behind her eye, "To my surprise others were staying there, especially since the owner of the place is one of the richest women in all of Gotham and whose parents had funded the Arkham project. Really was so odd to me."

At that point, the tension could be felt all around almost suffocating as Stephanie confirmed it was most certainly the right moment to excuse herself. Without saying a word to the woman she stood up and marched to the front door, walking out of the house and back to her car. Locking her car doors Stephanie placed her head on the steering wheel as she let out an exhausted sigh.

"As I was saying, by the way, rude to walk out on someone-"

Stephanie face planted on her car honk as she screamed along with it.

* * *

Feeling that her attempt to sleep had failed, Stephanie returned to the Claue manor. She had no idea where her 'car guest' had gone but she had the irking feeling it wouldn't be the last time she saw the blue woman. For the last seven hours, the woman not only talked to her about anything and everything, commenting on this and that, she also on eight occasions went into her car's system and blasted the radio on its highest frequency. With the bags under her eyes grown tenfold and her hair in a messy birds nest, all she wanted to do now was to sleep.

Deciding that the best course of action was to pull a Jason and get blackout drunk in order to fall unconscious, she made a b-line to the kitchen. What she didn't expect was the very serious atmosphere she had just walked in on.

She stared at the group circled around her kitchen table, one light on looming over them and the stern looks on their faces as she made eye contact with them. Keeping her face blank as she remained silent, not even willing to ask why a two-faced man in a suit was in her kitchen and giving Ivy a death glare.

Without saying a word Stephanie proceeded to walk right past them to the fridge, grabbing an entire bottle of wine and turned around towards the hallway. Before leaving the room completely she shook her head, "I know nothing that's going on. If anyone asks, you're all playing Monopoly, Livewire's the banker, Catwoman's the richest, Ivy's got the most houses, and Deathstroke's about to bankrupt Harley." And with that she made her way up the stairs, catching the dejected cry of Harley about losing everything, causing Stephanie to smile slightly.

The only thing on her mind at that moment was to curl up in her plush bed with a bottle of wine and sleep off that entire day of craziness in peace. Maybe when she woke up tomorrow they'd all be gone and all she'd have would be peace and quiet, yeah a good dream she thought.

Unfortunately, the night wasn't going towards her direction as a loud noise echoed through the mansion.

_**CRASH**_

"THAT WASN'T FROM US!" A voice rang out from the kitchen as the sounds of them came running down the hall, but at this point, Stephanie couldn't give to shits who it was, as long as they cleaned it up it would be fine.

"Why the fuck is that crazy fucking clown, HARLEY JOKER FUCKING QUINN DOING HERE?"

_Uh oh. _Stephanie slowly turned around, coming face to face with a lividly Jason, his face red and eyes narrowed, he was absolutely pissed. His uniform was slightly ripped, and dried blood soaked his jacket while his face was...covered in whipped creme?

She only shook her head, not even awake enough to deal with it all. Hearing the loud laughter of Harley's voice from downstairs she sighed, herself not even knowing what was happening and it _was her_ house. "Not in the mood right now Jason," she told him as he expectantly waited for an answer, the whip creme sliding down his hair if it had been any other time she would've laughed her ass off, but at that moment all Stephanie wanted was to sleep.

"Who in their right mind decided to let Harley shit face Quinn rig up traps? Better yet why is she living here? I told you don't start trouble and pick up strays, I'm pretty sure she fucking counts as one! Where the fuck are you going? Come back here!" Jason called out to her as she made her way down the hall to her bedroom.

"Not dealing with this Jason, go take a shower and sleep alright? You need it." She added, "Oh and I'm glad you're back safe, now do us all a favor and go get some rest and shut up, thanks." And with that, she left him fuming and confused in the hallway.

"Ooh did lover boy get rejected? How sad! Haha."

Through her door, Stephanie could hear the cry of Jason and the pounding of feet as she, and most likely everyone else in the Claue manor heard him, "Really?! Live Wire?! Why is she even in Gotham and- YOU'VE GOT TL BE FUXKING ME, SELINA?! WHY NOT INVITE THE REST OF GOTHAM WHILE YOU'RE AT IT-" she heard him pause breathing loudly, "Oh, of course, Deadshot is here too not like he and Deathstroke have almost killed one another their _friendship_ looks too normal. Who's next, fucking Killer Croc? Penguin? Two-Face?"

Stephanie heard silence on the other side of her door before she heard Harley pipe up happily as usual, "That's a great idea! We can ask ole Croc next time to-"

"Someone say our name?" Two-face cut in, sounding like he had just entered the scene, his voice most likely coming from the staircase below, "why if it isn't the Red Hood _**Been a while hasn't it?**_".

"MUTHAFU-"

.

.

* * *

**A/N:** Yes I stole the name Galavan/Theo Galavan from the tv show _Gotham_ (though none of those events is canon in this). And the name Paula for Stephanie's friend is for Paula Brooks, the second Tigress (the villainess) who in the _Gotham_ tv show was the alias for Theo Galavan's sister Tabitha. She also for a short time was the first Huntress (although for this fic, Helena is going to be the Huntress). Just thought to add that easter egg (as there are so many throughout this fic and I wanted to note this super obscure one...maybe?)


	7. Time of the Month

**Summary**: Living in that old house by yourself is lonely they said. Get a roommate they said. It would be fun they said. Yes well fortunately for herself the clowns, sirens, doctors, lawyers, armed assassins, birds, and even bats have decided to make her big "scary house" Gothams #1 crashing pad, how lucky. She should've just opened that damn coffee shop instead.

* * *

Apparently it was that time of the month again. The time where the Claue Manor received it's monthly visit from Commissioner Gordon or his daughter Barbara.

It was a bit odd, given the fact Stephanie was 24 so a welfare check was a little out of place. And she was pretty sure the ''checks' were off the clock, given her adequate knowledge that the Gotham police force couldn't give two flying fucks if was a hermit, infected by radioactive material, turned into a cow gone superhero, or warped into a space portal, as long as the annual funds that the Claue estate made to the task force they generally left her to her own devices.

Hell, she could become the worlds most notorious underground supplier of biochemical weapons and killer robots and as long as she gave them money they would leave her alone, then again the heroes would take care of it, maybe.

With all of that Stephanie found herself opening her front door to a certain red-haired woman standing on her porch with a large smile on her face. It wasn't like she was unhappy to see Barbara Gordon but given all of the "socializing" she found herself doing was a little less than enthusiastic to see her again.

Apparently the sentiment seemed to be shared around the manner that day as not only was Jason Todd hiding in the basement along with Deathstroke, but the Gotham Sirens (Harley) had decided throw a "baking party" which somehow included Livewire, a man allegedly known as the Mad Hatter ( at this point Stephanie had given up trying to figure out anyone's aliases meanings), and some loudmouth she believed was called Dead Pool? Red Fool? Red Tool? Something along those lines, again villains and hero names were weird. Thankfully Deadshot had left the night before, after yet another "totally innocent and for fun scuffle" with Deathstroke (which may have ended in one of the 4th floor's chandeliers to break), and Two-Face had gone off, something having to do with Ivy and venomous women.

But even with two of her, at this point, residents leaving the manor, she knew that everything could go wrong. While she had doubt in her mind that if Barbara found out about one of her 'roommates' there wasn't much she could do. All about 70% of them were let out of Arkham, prison, or had no current arrest warrants for them (at least as of the two nights before) which was good. And she was technically not a licensed officer and couldn't arrest them or take in for questioning but she could definitely report her to her dad and that may be a problem.

Of course, it would depend on who, if any, of her roommates, were to accidentally stumble paths with the commissioner's daughter. If it was Catwoman or Deadshot she was sure it would be a lot smoother. Live Wire and Deathstroke would be a bit harder but they were not originally Gotham citizens so hopefully, she wouldn't recognize them, not like Barbara ever had a one on one girl fight against Live Wire or anything, probably...hopefully. She had no idea how Harley or that Mad Hatter guy would do but hopefully, they would stay in the kitchen and not do anything stupid.

Apparently, that was too much to ask for as before Stephanie could say 'hello' a loud bang erupted from the kitchen.

"Uh, that was my dog. Probably tried to climb on the table or something, you know how they are." Stephanie said with a laugh and glared at the door down the hallway before turning back to the red-haired woman who gave no indignation of arguing that.

"Very true, I had a dog when I was younger and I know just how they could be around food, much like boys," she joked as both women laughed.

"I know just what you mean, like this one time I-"

CRASH

The loud sound echoing through the manor, coming from the basement making Stephanie sweat in nervousness, "Haha, must be my cat-" BANG "-he must've fallen off of something-" SCREAM "-and he's fat very, very fat….and loud."

Barbara stared at her, and behind those black-rimmed glasses, Stephanie could already see the gears turning as she asked in feign concerned if something was wrong. To which Stephanpine tried to shrug it off, "Don't worry about it, I'm sure everything is-" CRASH "-fine…" she was this close to slamming her head against the front door in frustration.

It was the one day, the only day they all had to shut up and be quiet, but oh no they just had to wake up the entire city of Gotham with their ruckus, hell, she bet that the Watch Tower could hear it all from up there in space. After a few more awkward interruptions and a pile of excuses, Barbara Gordon took her leave, wishing her a good day, hoping that 'cat' and 'dog' of hers was alright and promising to come another time to catch up.

After the whole debacle, once closing the door after Barbara had left in her car, Stephanie proceeded to let out a large sigh in relief. Checking to see what in the God's name was happening in the kitchen only to be stopped by a very very not normal looking pink gas emanating from under the door and the cackling of the people inside she decided to see the 'big and very loud cat' in her basement only to find the door locked.

Giving up on the idea to know what was happening anymore she thought it was best to calm down in the Claue gardens. She'd see them all that night, given as how Harley thought it was a marvelous idea to have 'family dinners' every night which either ended up in a food fight or gun fight, there was no in between.

Sitting down beneath a tree she began to read the new book she had pre-ordered from Amazon the week before. Everything was serene and nice, her mind forgetting all about the interesting people who lived with her. The peaceful quiet of the gardens was soon broken by a red interruption.

"Hey," came a voice above Stephanie as she turned around coming face to face with a freckled face ginger who was hanging upside down on a tree branch, "Huh, that usually startles people," he mumbled, not realizing that at this point surprises had begun to mean very, very little to her, "So anyway, out of the blue question you don't have to answer since I am a stranger and all, but uh have you seen anyone wearing red and black? Maybe in armor? With guns?"

She stared blankly at him, "You mean the Red Hood right?"

He sputtered and then coughed clearing his throat, "Uh yeah, Red Hood I'm looking for him," he paused flipping off the branch as the arrows he had wrapped around his back remained unmoved the entire time, easily defying gravity, "I'm not looking to kill him of anything, nothing illegal of course. Just making sure he's okay haven't seen him after-" His voice trailed off looking somber before readjusting.

"I'm just checking to make sure he's okay. He helped me through a lot of stuff and well I don't want him to consider the things I almost did. Star's worried about him too and the media is still trying to hunt the Outlaws down for what happened on the mission and Jason was injured-"

She sucked in a breath before shouting very loudly in confusion and shock, "Outlaws?!"

He stuttered, "Erm no we aren't actually outlaws I mean...well I guess Jason is and with my past...but Star's not...but there was that time..and technically-" he paused, "You know what just forget what I said, I'll just go now and-"

"What the fuck are you doing here Roy?"

Stephanie and the man in front of her whipped around to the newcomer, Jason Todd in all his glory...with chicken feathers sticking out of his clothes.

The red-haired man bounded towards him pulling his arm back before uppercutting Jason and screaming at him, "You are a fucking idiot Jason! Leaving like that without medical attention Star was fucking worried and had half a mind to call up your brother to make sure you didn't die in an alleyway," He huffed in anger as he grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a gripping hug whispering in hushed tones.

Jason looked startled by it all, his lip bleeding from the hit but slowly patted the ginger on his back responding back quietly. All the while Stephanie was sat there wondering what the hell was happening but noticing the change in the atmosphere that most definitely didn't include her she slinked back inside the Manor leaving the two men to work things out in private.

It didn't hit her till later that the man, Arsenal from what she found on the internet, had berated Jason for being injured, without medical care, and that the mission he had returned from was barely two days prior, and he was going on another one that evening.

Lovely she thought to herself, setting a reminder on her phone that when the next time she would see the vigilante she would give him a smacking of his own, especially seeing as how she had no qualms against giving him aid at this point. What an idiot he was.

* * *

**Notes**:

Barbara Gordon - Batgirl/Oracle (in this verse she has already returned as Batgirl after being in a wheelchair as Oracle)

Red Tool - DC's parody of Deadpool

The Outlaws - Aka Jason Todd's group of people, vol. 1 consisted of Arsenal, Starfire and himself (which is who I'm sticking with for this)

Arsenal - His names, Roy, Once Green Arrow's sidekick and I was referencing the time Jason convinced him not to commit suicide

* * *

**A/N:** I was originally going to have this have more heroes/anti-heroes in this chapter (aka I was gonna bring in my boy Barry Allen) but I couldn't seem to make him fight in yet. But he'll be coming in soon! And yes, Barbara does realize something's up which may or may not bring the attention of the Batfam/Justice League (hint we may actually be getting some plot coming in)


	8. Beach Episode?

**Summary**: Living in that old house by yourself is lonely they said. Get a roommate they said. It would be fun they said. Yes well fortunately for herself the clowns, sirens, doctors, lawyers, armed assassins, birds, and even bats have decided to make her big "scary house" Gothams #1 crashing pad, how lucky. She should've just opened that damn coffee shop instead

* * *

**A/N:** Haha long time no see, whoops my bad. I'm so so sorry for not updating this, I was focused on other things, but I'll be back to a more normal update schedule soon!

* * *

What a _lovely_ day it was.

The sun was shining, the birds chirping, and there was not a cloud in the sky. The sand beneath her was warm and inviting while the ocean reflected silvery ripples.

Nothing could disrupt the peaceful scenery.

Oh, what was that?

People screaming? Running for their lives? Children crying and chaos everywhere? And there's some man dressed in a black wet suit and red-eyed mask trying to murder someone?

Sorry didn't hear that, there's a trident-wielding king fighting him? And they were less than 50 yards away from her? There's also a giant title wave coming straight towards the shore, that's not very normal now, was it.

Of course, this just had to happen on the one day she decided to leave the Claue Manor, what did she expect? Something completely normal? A non-villain/hero confutation on the day she decided it would be nice to go to the beach? What a funny joke.

What? There are _more_ villains running amuck? Is that Lex Luthor in some mecha transformer suit trying to punch Superman up there in the sky? Plummeting each other into the surrounding cityscape while the people below screamed.

But they weren't the only ones fighting you say? Why is that man trying to climb one of the buildings with just rope? And over there, a woman waving around some sort of wand while some demonic looking tree was smashing cars that's not something you'd see every day, probably.

At some point, Stephanie Claue decided the best and safest course of action was to slick back into her car and get the hell out of there. Giving up on her desire to have a 'relaxing' and 'uneventful' beach trip went up in smoke faster than that skyscraper did as she switched the gears of her car and speed down the back roads.

Her speeding didn't last long though, her car jolting and swerving when someone had abrupted jumped into her open side window, "What the fuck?!" she screeched, narrowly avoiding a couple of running people as she glanced over at the intruder.

A blob of red and black hair flipped into her face while the clanking of the person mallet was hazardously tossed into the back of her car, "Step on it Steph, let's get outta here!"

She shifted in the driver seat as Harley fucking Quinn stuck her head out the window screaming at the top of her lungs at one of the superpowered metahumans behind her waving, "See you later Frosty! We have to get the old squad back together!"

Incoherent shouting was thrown their way as a spray of slippery ice shot from the white-haired woman behind them causing Stephanie to go far beyond the speeding limit to avoid the ice. Beside her the clown girl flipped on the radio, talking about everything and anything with Stephanie much to her slight annoyance.

One may wonder why Harley Quinn was there, or why she even thought it was a good idea to jump inside a moving vehicle, but Stephanie had stopped asking questions at this point. Apparently, when she had 'snuck out' of the manor, Harley had been sleeping in the trunk of her car. Why she was there, she didn't know. How she got in there without a key, she also didn't know. What was she going to do about it?

_Absolutely nothing._

At least there really wasn't much for her to do. She couldn't kick the girl out, she had no interest in testing out the woman's revenge skills. Nor could she just abandon her at the beach, because again, that would be bad news. So Stephanie allowed the woman to run wild, as long as she didn't incriminate her with anything.

So as expected Harley had apparently stirred up trouble with one of the local villains, some ice woman named Killer Frosty or something. Which was what ultimately led them to be speeding away from the furious woman. The only thing she could say was that thankfully it hadn't been a hero who would try to arrest them, that would be bad.

As they, Stephanie, drove down the back roads and towards Gotham, the pair noticed something odd coming their way. Slowing down a bit as it came closer, all Stephanie could make out were red streaks.

Harley had thankfully stuck her head back in the car, dozing off in the passenger seat while Stephanie was left staring at the thing, which appeared to be a person heading straight towards her. It zoomed right by the car, past her window as her eyes met with the red streak's ones.

A pair of clashing yet warm eyes met hers for the briefest of moments as time seemed to slow down as she felt like she had seen that person before but couldn't place. He seemed to recognize her too though, almost looking as like he wanted to stop only to speed up, dashing past and towards the beach from which they came.

Through it all, Harley remained asleep until the re-entered Gotham city at which point she threw her arms up and stuck her upper body out of the car roof window pointing to one of the shopping centers, "Ooh let's go over there Steph!"

Knowing that she also knew that due to their day (Stephanie's day) at the beach was cut significantly short, she truthfully had no other plans and so, albeit reluctantly, pulled into one of the free parking spots as the two got out of the car, Harley flipping out of the window with ease, as Stephanie did a far simpler approach, stepping out of the vehicle like a sane person.

The first few shops they entered were nice, nothing Stephanie would buy for herself as she was more than content with her online shopping sprees and random innate Amazon purchases, but still humored the bi-colored hair woman, trying on this and that for her entertainment.

Although she was admittedly still wary about being in another shopping place, seeing as how the last time that happened she received a concussion and added to the growing list of permanent residents, Stephanie still managed to have a good time, surprisingly.

Near the end of their three-hour shopping trip, which was mostly Harley running in and out of stores dragging her with her like a doll, the pair came to the food court. Of course, the woman, having spent all her money (having not stolen anything from what Stephanie could tell), she paid for the two of them on her master black card.

"Is that the bat symbol?"

Stephanie put the card back in her phone case, cheeks flushed, "Yea it is, uh-" she refused to meet the womans gaze, "It's an old card from when I was in middle school, back when Batman was all the craze you know? The card was from a limited edition line where it was just Superman and Batman so I impulsive bought it." She laughed softly, "It was during my rebellious 'I hate police and my parent's phase' when the masked crusader was considered a bad influence, funny how things change."

Harley nodded her head, "That's neat, wish they made cards like that for me!" Stephanie smiled, "You know they can make you a custom one right? Where you can put anything on it?"

"Wait really?!" she exclaimed, hearts almost appearing in her blue eyes, "I could get matching ones for red and I! That's the perfect gift!"

She shook her head amused, finding herself slowly getting used to her antics and even enjoying it all. The two found one of the empty tables in the food court, neither really saying much, focusing on the food and letting the muted music and lively chatter around them fill their ears.

"I was jealous of you, ya know?"

Stephanie lifted her head, finding Harley faced towards everyone around them, watching, "I thought you were trying to steal away the only person who has ever cared for me." Her eyes shifted to hers, "No one had seen Ivy for weeks, and I was so worried. She was supposed to meet up with me, on our date night we do every week, but she had missed the last few and well."

Her hands reached over to cup Stephanies, while she held her drink cup too, "when I heard she had been attacked I got so scared. She didn't call or nothing, so I went looking for her. And when I came to ya house and just saw you there I really wasn't in my best mind." She told her, trying to apologize or at least that's what it seemed like, "Even after I got to know ya a bit, I didn't like you. I thought you and Ivy were up to something, and I didn't want her to leave me."

"Do you though?"

"Do I what?"

"Do you still think Ivy and I are up to something?" Harley released her hands as she tapped her chin, "Sometimes I do, it's hard not to see things with Ivy, she likes teasing everyone so much but I think you're cool in my book now Steph."

Letting out a sigh of relief, not even realizing she had it held she smiled, genuinely this time, "That's good, I'm glad you don't think so," Harley grinned back, "We're friends right Harley?"

With glittering eyes she nodded furiously, "Of course we are!" she paused pulling Stephanie's face to her own and placing a quick kiss on her lips with a giggle, "We could always be more though, just ask Red and I would enjoy it as much as ya!"

It was Stephanie's turn to become a deep red shade, competing with the woman half red locks as she released in an unladylike squeal of surprise when their lips made contact. Pulling herself away as Harley let her go, the woman laughing happily, her hands flew to her face in shock, "I don't know what y-you mean," she exclaimed a bit louder than intended.

She grinned ear to ear, "Don't worry Steph, I won't steal you away from lover boy, but my arms and bed'll be open for ya whenever you need me!"

Sputtering, "What?! L-lover boy?! What are you talking about I don't-"

"Oh please! No need to hide things from little ole'me! You and Jason are so adorbs!" she let out a shrill squeal causing everyone around to hiss in pain from the ringing, "I won't tell him though but you betta invite me to the wedding or else! I call being the flower girl with Red alright?"

Stephanie could only stare at the woman before her, going from such a serious conversation back to her regular go-lucky self in mere seconds. "I'm not, I don't, not at all like Jason Todd or-" But despite her protests to Harley, she refused to let up, seemingly lost inside her own world filled with weddings, bells, and romance, much to her own ire.

After a bit more embarrassment, for Stephanie at least, the pair made their way towards one of the last shops. Like before nothing much happened, they went in, a few people stared at Harley, kids pointed but the woman took it all in stride, blowing kisses and winking at several of the people who not so sneakily tried taking pics.

Stephanie had opted to look at a few of the books the shop had in supply, roaming the shelves only to hit against something hard from behind.

"I'm sorry."

"My bad."

They both apologized at the same time as Stephanie looked up at the face of who she bumped into. She was met with an attractive sight if she was being honest and she was. The man was tall, with tanned skinned, dark black locks, and a sideways grin. His shirt was a bit loose, but around his arms it was tight, his muscles peeking through causing her to blush like some sort of teen girl much to her internal annoyance.

"-bout that."

"Oh no, it's my fault I should've looked where I was going," she apologized unsure what the man said earlier but tried playing it off through inferences. If there was anything she still retained from her time growing up in Gotham, it was lie until you make it, or until the law caught up with you, or you know, you died.

He gave her a smile, "Nah, it was my fault," he paused, "We aren't going to acknowledge that the other wasn't at fault aren't we?"

Stephanie chuckled nodding her head, "I believe so, yes."

He laughed with her, "Sounds about right," his eyes caught a glimpse at the books in her hands, "You like comics?"

She blinked, looking down at the _Iron Man_ and _Captain America_ comics in her hands, "Uh something like that. I really enjoyed them when I was younger but that was back when heroes weren't such a big thing."

The man seemed to agree to nod, "It's a bit weird to read stories with heroes now, isn't it? I was just a kid when Superman saved Metropolis that first time," he told her as the pair began to bond a bit over their shared interest but awkwardness regarding comics, "Yea considering every other person here in Gotham is a hero or villain," she added as he agreed but frowned a bit.

Their conversation trailed off before he opened his mouth again, "So I-"

_**BOOM**_

Both of them jolted, Stephanie crouching down below the bookshelves while the man popped his head out of the aisle, tensing. They exchanged a look as gunshots started going off in the distant, most likely a few shops down, by the bank.

Stephanie groaned, she forgot that this was the only mall that had a bank in it, and they just had to pick this one to go shopping with. Which reminded her that Harley was still somewhere in the shop, and considering the womans less then stellar rep, it was of both their best interests if she got them out of there as fast as possible.

"I've got to go."

"Hey I'd love to chat but I have to leave"

They said at the same time again, as they shared one last smile before Stephanie turned towards where she last saw the bi-colored haired woman as the man called out to her as he ran the other direction, "What's your name, comic girl?"

She turned back to him with an eyes roll but a smile, "Stephanie!" she hollered back as another explosion was heard, but a tad closer this time.

"Claue?!"

"Something like that!" She chuckled already guessing he knew who she was, or at least who her parents were and the amount of money in her bank account.

"-Grayson!" he said as he ran out the door, "Dick Grayson!"

She raised a bow to the name, wondering if it was short for Richard maybe? But she shook thought away, choosing to focus on the task at hand, finding the bonafide doctor but also villain turned...who knows what.

* * *

They arrived back to the Claue Manor a little past dinner time, Harley doing another flipping manuveur out of the car, all twenty-eight bags in hand, and ran through the front doors. By the time Stephanie had parked and locked the car, grabbing her own, singular, bag she entered her home, hearing the noises already echoing from Harley and Ivy's rooms (which were on the second floor).

She let out a sigh, throwing her keys into the side bowl and throwing herself into the first floors living room. Throwing off her coat and shoes she flicked on the tv as a news wrap up played.

"_Earlier today the villain known as Black Mantra had attacked this beach right below us, with him billionaire and criminal mastermind, Lex Luthor, as well as several others, attacked the city. Luckily for us and everyone involved, Superman and Aquaman came to stop them while the Flash and Hawkgirl helped with the rescue crews. We can't thank them enough for all they've done today-"_

Raising a brow she hummed, going to change the channel only to halt. Pictures of the city destruction were shown on the screen, before and after shots were juxtaposed with one another as several pieces of footage were played. But that wasn't what stopped her as she had seen more than her fair share of city destruction, it was, in fact, one of the heroes who had come to the rescue.

There he was. Dressed in a red skin-tight suit, his muscles on full display while he wore a cowl that covered the back of his head, chin, and under his eyes. Little yellow lighting bolts extended from the top as a large bolt was displayed on his chest.

That was the man who had zoomed by them from before. Stephanie could only stare at the hero, watching him from the footage zoom in and out of frame grabbing people and getting them far away from the wreckage.

"Strong, hot, and fast, what's not to love?"

She jolted up from the couch, almost banging her knee on the coffee table as she turned towards the voice, "Live Wire? What are you doing here? I thought you went back to your place?"

The bluish woman shrugged, "Wasn't feeling like it. Besides I kind of like it here, Gotham has terrible taste in radio shows but I'll change that soon enough." Stephanie blinked. "So you ogling the Flash I see? Didn't take you like that kind of woman Ms. Claue."

"No! I'm not into him at all! I didn't even know who he was! I just saw him earlier today and-"

"You really have some penchant for finding trouble don't you," she laughed, "Sure you don't like him," she said unconvinced. "Hmm, seems you have a thing for men wearing red," she added casually, deciding to dismiss her earlier denials.

Choking on air she shook her head, "No I have no idea what you're talking about! You and Harley are seeing things that aren't there."

"Oh? Harley sees it too? Took that clown long enough." Live Wire continued as she was taking some form of sadistic joy out of seeing Stephanie squirm and be flustered, "Well my lips are sealed, for now," she paused, "Ah and Jason is looking for you, by the way, he's in his man cave."

She rolled her eyes, "Could've said something earlier you know!" calling out to the woman who had zapped herself into the light fixtures with a laugh. Grumbling as she made her way to the downstairs, Stephnie mentally prepared herself for what he wanted.

"Hey, Jason a lightbulb told me you wanted a word."

"More like an electrocuted rat," he replied from behind his chair, flipping around to face her. His mask was off, in fact, both were off, the black semi mask he generally wore as well as his hood, giving her a clear view of his face.

"So what did you need from me?" she asked him coming towards him and stopping when they were only a few feet away, "Run out of my alcohol supply yet?" she joked but receive no light humored response he would generally give her.

"We have an issue." He said finally, eyes meeting hers almost piercing her soul, "And not just a security issue, but a 'we may have some visitor soon' kind of problem."

Stephanie leaned against one of the other chairs, "Elaborate, please."

He sighed, "When Babs, Barbara Gordon, was here a week ago, she apparently thought something was suspicious so from what my sources say," he rolled his head back, "Either the commissioner or someone else will be stopping by soon."

Her brow raised, "Someone else?" Choosing to let go what his sources were, the less she knew was still far better then knowing something she shouldn't, even if she was probably in trouble just knowing a few of the worlds most well-known villains.

"Someone like Batman."

A silent moment passed between them as she took in his words before letting out an audible groan saying the only thing she could think of:

"Well shit."

.

.

* * *

**A/N**: Just a heads up, no this is not going to devolve into a romance story between Stephanie and Jason, nor will there be a lot of romance, although I can't promise that. However, this is supposed to just be a fun crack-ish fic so my main goal is just to make people smile and maybe even laugh. If people are interested in romance, perhaps I'll sprinkle a little here and there, but again, not the main focus of this fic. And even if there was romance, whose to say it would be between Jason and Stephanie? I like adding curve balls to my fics.


	9. Robin, Robin, Jason-WAIT WHAT

**Summary**: Living in that old house by yourself is lonely they said. Get a roommate they said. It would be fun they said. Yes well fortunately for herself the clowns, sirens, doctors, lawyers, armed assassins, birds, and even bats have decided to make her big "scary house" Gothams #1 crashing pad, how lucky. She should've just opened that damn coffee shop instead

* * *

**A/N**: Wow I am sucking at updating. Again I am so sorry for late updating, I've been really distracted/ busy with college prep, work (3 people left at once), cosplay, other fics, among just some of the crazy that's happening. I can't guarantee an updated schedule anymore, but I am trying to have 3-5 hours a week to write fics at the moment but again inspiration comes and goes so eh.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any copyrighted material/DC Comics/DCEU/etc….obviously.

* * *

She was on edge.

Wellbeing on edge was putting it lightly.

Stephanie was more like teetering on the edge of a cliff trying to balance on a penny while lasers and missiles were trying to hit her. Thankfully, that was simply her emotional state and not, well, her physical state of being.

No, physically Stephanie was locked away in the movie room of the Claue manor watching Disney movie reruns and eating all the sugar that was stocked up in the room. Everyone else, on the other hand, her 'permanent' and 'totally-not-not paying' tenants were holed up in the basement as the manors maids were about cleaning the place up.

Usually, Stephanie wouldn't have minded their presence, in fact, those maids had been under her family's employment since she was a child and were surprisingly a pair of the sweetest most genuine people in Gotham (although technically they lived on the outskirts of the city). However, this time was a tad different.

The maids had been given a few weeks vacation from Stephanie and then the two had run into a family issue which she then was more than happy to let them have more time off. But now they were back. And they had been greeted with a less than clean manor since the last they saw it.

Some of the chandeliers were missing crystals and candles, there were no chips and odd scuffs in the floorboards that hadn't been there before, some things had been moved, and there was a lot more garbage to take out. Especially considering that for all they knew, Stephanie was still an anti-social hermit who had zero roommates and hadn't made any attempt to get any.

The one nice thing they noticed was the lack of dust around the place (which was in part due to Live-Wire always blowing a fuse if she inhaled the stuff), and of course, the very alive and absolutely stunning gardens that had sprouted up all around the manor like magic.

For the entire day, the two middle-aged ladies went about cleaning and fixing up the manor the best they could as Stephanie in the meantime held her breath, silently praying and hoping none of her roommates would make any loud noises or, you know, explode something in the basement which would cause a lot more chaos and questions that she really did not want to deal with.

Thankfully some god or overpowered being given pity on her for once and there was not a single incident or mishap all day. Once the maids left, after being generously paid, of course, Stephanie trekked her way down to the manor's basement.

However, when she got there nothing greeted her. In fact the only thing down there was darkness and the faint humming of Jason's computer monitors. The basement was empty. And most likely had been empty that entire day.

Fighting the urge to smack herself, she returned back upstairs and into the kitchen to get a drink and nonsugary foods to eat. Deciding that, while she had just wasted the entire day thinking that her roommates were in the manor when in fact they weren't, Stephanie finally had some time now to be alone and do whatever she wanted.

Of course, her small moment of realization was short-lived as a loud and resounding 'thud' was heard, echoing through the halls and coming from the manor's attic.

Debating whether or not to ignore the noise, which could possibly have been her imagination, it reaffirmed it's existence when the sound repeated itself which was then followed by a loud screeching sound.

Letting out a groan and sigh, Stephanie set her wine and dinner aside as she grabbed one of the hidden weapons and gadgets that the various villains had stashed around the manor. Unfortunately for herself, or perhaps luckily for the thing in the attic, the first thing she grabbed, which was tucked beneath the kitchen island was a nerf gun filled with a fart bomb.

The words 'smell ya later' was sprawled over it in hot pink text, which sure was pretty sure was either lipstick or nail polish. Needless to say, she carefully replaced the gun underneath the island and instead reached for one of Deathstroke's weapons, which was a grenade launcher.

This was most certainly not her day.

Rummaging around some of the potted plants she found copious amounts of poisons and venomous seeds, none of which were useful at the moment. The items beneath the various chairs ranged from what looked like a beach ball, to smoke bombs, and even some bottle with a strange web-like consistency in it. The lights weren't much help either as all she found there were dust and some green glowing net she didn't dare touch.

After a good seven or eight minutes searching, she finally found what appeared to be some sort of javelin stick with a razor-sharp end. Keywords she later found out was 'appeared to be'.

Leaving the kitchen to immediately run straight into the hallway which had numerous swords and machine guns hidden behind the bookshelves and ceiling tiles, she debated whether she should return the odd stick back behind the stove and grab one of the far more intimating weapons Stephanie reluctantly forced herself to the attic stairs.

Flickering on the dulled light she rushed up the steps, almost tripping on the loose floorboard at the stairs top she came face to face with absolutely nothing. Again.

Checking around the various boxes and the terrifying white-sheeted furniture, she again found nothing amiss. Chalking it up once again to her becoming more paranoid what with the kinds of people who lived with her now and the very real threat of being caught by Batman or worse, the Justice League as a whole for harboring criminals.

Slowly making her way down the stairs and locking the attic door Stephanie shook off her fears that is until a quiet 'achoo' broke her thoughts.

The sound once again came from the attic, as she now started questioning her sanity. A part of her wanted to pretend she heard nothing and just, you know, flee from her house and go into the city until everyone else came back, aka those who would be far more skilled with dealing with intruders or at the very least far more intimidating then herself.

But then again, calling the police was still a viable option despite the awkward meeting with Barbara Gordon, which was still supposed to be rescheduled soon, she knew the police wouldn't do anything.

Bracing herself to go back upstairs to the attic again Stephanie grabbed one of the conveniently placed semi-automatics that were lodged in between the portrait of her great grand uncle, she thinks it was him, she turned back around and headed up.

Turning the light back on she did a more thorough search of the upstairs, careful of the top step this time around. However, she was met with nothing out of place once again.

Well until she had half a mind to look up that is.

Like any horror movie, the moment the final girl looked up, she would spot the big bad guy who had been watching her the entire time and then proceed to get her throat clawed out. Except when she looked up she was met with not a monster, but a bat.

A small red and black-clad bat mask and all. Or well it was technically a robin, but a robin who worked for a bat, lovely.

Neither said a word as they continued to stare, frozen in place until he opened his mouth, "Uh hi there I'm the Red Robin uh, nice attic you've got here." She opened her mouth to reply only to find no words to come out as her vision went blurry, not even realizing that she had been knocked out.

* * *

Waking up in tied to a chair was not how Stephanie Claue imagined the evening going.

Especially considering she was tied up and being kept in what she could only describe as an 'interrogation' situation in her very own house.

Before her were two masked beings, both of which were fighting with one another. The one in black and red who she recalled introduced himself as 'Red Robin' earlier was trying to convince the other one, who she was positive had to be the dark knight's sidekick, Robin that tying her up was a bad idea. Oh and you know, knocking her out was also uncool too.

It was a bit heartwarming that he was sticking up for her, despite the fact that he still let the young teen knock her out. Robin, on the other hand, carried himself with an aura that just read 'I'm better than you' and 'don't get in my way' so he was basically like all teens going through their angsty puberty phase. He must really be able to get his anger out on all the criminals in the city that as for sure.

Their arguing continued for another five minutes before she felt herself getting dizzy from the back and forth. At this point, she didn't care what they did to her, most likely trying to see if she really was harboring criminals or something, all Stephanie really wanted right then and there was something to drink.

Hell, she'd kill for some wine.

Perhaps living with villains really was starting to be a bad influence on her.

"Hey there," she coughed out, drawing their attention as their heads snapped to look down at her, "I hate to break up this thrilling conversation but if that's all you are going to do I will have to ask you to leave my house, although before then if you could untie me, I'd appreciate it thanks."

Stephanie had gotten to the point of the evening where she no longer gave any fucks. She just wanted to drink and sleep and worry about everything tomorrow when she was hungover. Yea she thought to herself, being around Jason and Deathstroke so often was a really bad idea.

"Shut up its none of your business."

"Robin, you can't say things like that. She's a civilian," Red Robin harked back, "Which is also why you don't knock out civilians!"

"You were the one who tied her up!"

"That was only because you wanted to drag her to the Cave for some sort of interrogation!"

"Is this not one right now?" the teen huffed, "Honestly you're like all high and mighty, all of you do! But you know what I'm actua-"

She let out a groan as the two fell back into arguing once more, "You know what why don't you knock me out again so I don't have to listen to you both act like children."

"Rude much?" Robin scoffed, "You rich trust fund kids living off your parent's money are all the same. Whiny, rude, and no idea what it's like to live in the streets or know pain or suffering. People like you disgust me."

Silence fell over the room as Stephanie soaked in his words before letting out a chuckle until it became a full-on laughing storm. Through breaths, she shook her head, "How does being a hero make it any better? I use my 'trust fund' and _dead _parents wealth to fix Gotham because this is also my city, you use your fists," she glared up at him, "You don't know how or what other peoples lives were like, especially here in a city like this one. Everyone has faced pain, death, and has suffered be it from their situation in life, their family and friends, to even the constant fights between heroes and villains."

"That's not what I meant I-"

"Didn't anyone tell you that it was rude to interrupt your elders?" A voice came from the shadows, "Or did the old Bat never teach you that lesson either?"

Perched upon the windowsill, garbed in his usual black and red and hood upon his head sat the one and only, Jason Todd.

"Red Hood," she stated out loud both in shock and relief, almost slipping and calling him by Jason as he landed onto the floors. Stalking over to the three he paid the other two no mind as his narrowed in on Stephanie.

"Red Hood, I thought you were in Bludhaven with Nightwing," Red Robin commented in surprise, "How long were have you been listening in?"

Jason made no attempt to look over to the other masked man as his attentions remained solely on herself. His gloved hands traced over the side of her head where a bruise had already begun to form from the blunt force used to knock her out made impact. She winced when in grazed against the bump, jerking away from him on instinct.

She swore she saw his eyes narrow from behind the white mesh of his hood, "It seems the Bat's lost his touch." He tilted his heads ever so slightly over to the young teen who watched the scene unfold, "You hit too hard, you could've caused brain trauma."

He shrugged adverting his eyes, "So what? It got the job down. Next time it won't be like that I-"

"There won't be a next time _Robin_," he interrupted coldly, "Next time you might kill someone, and that's something that doesn't fit your name nor outfit. I don't think the old man would appreciate it too much. Although two out of four being good is still decent odds."

"Jas- _Red Hood_," Red Robin cut in physically taking a step forward as he did so, " Stop this antagonizing, we aren't here to fight." His eyes wandered over to Stephanie and then back to Jasons, "He was and still is my responsibility for tonight. I didn't realize what he was going to do until he had already done it. For that I am sorry, truthfully, you know I would never harm a civilian for no reason."

His voice was apologetic and she could hear it in his words, he really didn't mean to injury her. Although she had already sensed that from him earlier, it was still nice to have that affirmation, however, it didn't justify tying her up.

"Then why is she currently tied up huh?" Jason scoffed before shoving away from Red Robin as he undid one of the knives in his holster. "What are you doing?"

He brought the knife over Stephanie's tied form, "What does it look like I'm doing Robin? I'm letting her go, not stabbing her idiot." And with that the roped that bond her dropped to the floor. Nursing the slightly red abrasions on her wrists and forearms she stood up slowly, " Thank you."

Jason nodded slightly, just barely so but she could sense the small smile on his face from underneath the mask. Their attention turned back to face the two heroes in front of them. "Why did you do that? She was a suspect!"

Stephanie raised a brow, "And what pray tell am I a suspect to? I didn't commit any crimes nor have I any interest to do so," she took a small step forward only to find herself partially blocked by Jason who seemed to be trying to take a protective stance in front of her, "From my knowledge, you two broke into my house, knocked me out which is assault, tied me up, and insulted me. I think you have broken far more crimes tonight than I ever have so told me again, why and what am I suspect for?"

Red Robin opened his mouth to respond but was unceremoniously cut off once again by the teen beside him, "Classified information. It's none of your concern anyway," he looked up at Jason, "Why are you here anyways? You weren't 'just' passing by, you were in Bludhaven less than three hours ago. It's not like Claue here has anything to do with you right?"

Neither said anything as she tried her best to keep her face blank. She couldn't read Jason's face but from his posture, she knew he was tense and she was sure he was trying to figure out something to say. Taking the initiative she tried answering, "Well actually the Red Hod and I don't know-"

"She saved my life."

All eyes snapped over to him, her head almost getting whiplash by how fast she had turned to stare at him. She wasn't the only to be startled by his words as Robin shook his head in disbelief, "What did you just say? I don't think I heard you properly."

"I was injured and I passed out in the middle of the street," he began retelling the event from all those nights ago, "If she hadn't brought me back to her place and dressed my wounds I may not be standing here right now." She knew he was exaggerating his injuries, though then again she also kidnapped him in a sense so she wasn't going to interject. "I owe her my life so I keep watching over her sometimes, make sure no paparazzi try to break in or some low-life criminal as you clearly see, she is the heiress to a large fortune."

"I see," the older Robin stated, "Is that why there is a monitor system in the basement then? That's all your doing?"

Jason let out a small sigh but nodded. "And what about the weapons in the hallway? Those yours as well?" He nodded again. "The security system? I'm surprised you didn't code up some sort of AI for the place."

He shrugged, "Didn't have the time to do that yet. Not that important, besides those can be far too dangerous."

"What of the lightning spear we found her with?" he asked as Jason turned to look over at her with confusion and irritation. Clearly, she had not helped the situation by carrying one of the random weapons she had found. "That's not one of your weapons, we checked it against the database, it's something that Live Wire used to use."

Suspicion had now been placed back on them and this time Stephanie spoke, "That was my parents." Robin tried to interrupt her but she held her hand up to silence him much to his annoyance, "My family dealt a lot with the underground of Gotham. If you go far back enough you'll see that they dealt with all sorts of criminals, Black Mask, the Penguin, and even Lex Luthor just to name a few. It was probably a gift from Live Wire or maybe they bought it in one of those auctions who knows."

What she said was technically true. Her parents had done a lot of dealings with criminals in fact she remembered meeting the infamous Lex Luthor when she was younger. Her parents weren't exactly criminal souvenir collectors, but they did enjoy several of the creations that others had made to both fight and cause crime.

"If that's all then Red Robin, Robin," Jason stated as he reached for his waist holsters as he unlatched his revolvers and pointing them at the pair, "I suggest you both leave, it's getting late and I'm sure the Bat would like to hear about all the nothing you accomplished tonight."

"But-"

"No Robin, we go now." The red and black-clad Robin practically dragged the younger towards the open window much too his protest, "It was good seeing you again Red Hood. The four of us should hang out again sometime, I think Alfred would like that."

Jason made no comment instead cocking his guns, still pointing them at their heads. And like the wind they were gone, leaving without so much of a trace that they were there in the first place.

Once they were sure that they were gone Jason turned to face Stephanie. Placing his guns back in the holsters and ripping off his hood mask, his eyes gazed down at her, "Why the fuck happened?"

She felt herself shrugging, "I have absolutely no idea," she replied in earnest, "I could use a drink though."

.

.

.

* * *

**Notes**:

Red Robin -Aka Tim Drake

Robin -Damian Wayne

"High and Mighty"- Damian has a poor relationship with the other previous robins (he supposedly has the best one with Jason) and is often portrayed as jealous when it comes to Dick and Tim.

2 out of 4- Canioncally Jason is the only Robin (or once was a robin) to kill someone as Red Hood). Basically saying that if Damian does kill someone, then only two of Batman's prodigies would be able to take on the 'Batman' name/symbol.

Stephanie also doesn't know that Jason used to be Robin (back when she was in middle school to be specific) nor does she know that Damian, Tim, and Jason are technically siblings, yet.

* * *

**A/N: **Not a lot of laughs in this chapter, trying to get some plot here and there (which you know originally wasn't gonna have any). Originally this chapter was going to have Batwoman and Clayface, but like I choked and couldn't figure out how to include it all. Wa-whoops


	10. Why is there a spaceship in my hallway?

**Summary: **Living in that old house by yourself is lonely they said. Get a roommate they said. It would be fun they said. Yes well fortunately for herself the clowns, sirens, doctors, lawyers, armed assassins, birds, and even bats have decided to make her big "scary house" Gothams #1 crashing pad, how lucky. She should've just opened that damn coffee shop instead

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything of DC comics/its affiliations

* * *

.

.

"Tell me again what the hell happened?"

"..."

"Is no one going to tell me? Because I don't know what it looks like to you all, but there's a GAPING HOLE FROM THE ROOF TO THE MAIN FLOOR!"

"...actually Steph, it continues to the basement right where the-"

"-Harley-"

"Yes, Red?"

"You're not helping."

"Oh."

Stephanie Claue has dealt with a lot of strange things in her life.

From running away from mutant animals at the Gotham Zoo during her eighth-grade field trip to the Joker Clown gang blowing up her little cousins birthday cake a few years back, and being saved by the famed Green Lantern when she and her aunt were thrown out of a Ferris wheel, just to name a few.

Of course, her rescuing Jason and somehow hosting a league of criminals in her home definitely fell among the more 'stranger' of things that she'd done. But this? This was something completely else.

It had started off a fairly normal day.

Stephanie had all but passed out the evening before, having dealt with the Robins and Jason's less than happy attitude to the whole matter. Not that she blamed him, in fact, she agreed with most points he made, even if he did seem to censor the majority of the information but never the less they were in agreement.

From what it sounded like, Jason had had prior dealings and altercations with all the Robins, including that hero named Nightwing, as well as the infamous Batman. He didn't seem to have a negative opinion of the former heroes but was resentful towards the dark knight for whichever reason. It wasn't her business, he didn't share and she didn't ask.

For all she knew, it was some life or death reason that was _way _above her clearance level, which by the sounds of it was probably the case. However in regards to the robins, Red Robin, Robin, and apparently Nightwing (who she had just thought was an up and coming hero not one of a former mantle), Jason had a decent relationship with them, sort of.

Jason seemed to be bitter towards Nightwing, for again, his own reasons while he seemed to have a softer spot for Red Robin and Robin. At least that seemed to be the case when he was drunkenly ranting to her. She doubted he noticed, but when he spoke of them his voice softened and the frown on his face lessened.

Though despite his softer feelings towards the two heroes, he was beyond pissed at what had occurred that evening. Ideas and theories had been thrown out between the two over their drinks, everything from them doing it on their own accord to the Justice League being suspicious, and even it just being a random outtake of their lives. But, realistically, it most likely had to do with Batman and the other heroes of Gotham, neither of which were good news for them.

Herself with fears of being imprisoned, despite none of the people she were harboring, had done any crimes or had warrants out for them (at least none that were made public), or getting her ass kicked by the famous interglacial Justice League, neither of which were on her bucket list. While Jason seemed to be irritated in the idea that he may lose out on his free board and room, a sentiment she was sure was shared with her other roommates (although Deathstroke, Deadshot, and the Sirens did pay be it in jewels, money, or hitlist promises).

Either way, no one wanted to get caught in whatever the situation they had going was.

Stephanie was quite sure how either got to bed but when she had awoken she found herself comfortably in her bed and slightly hungover. A great way to start off a day.

After dragging herself from her cozy bed, which called to her to come back the 24-year-old proceeded to burrow back under the sheets.

It was both one of the least adult things she's done in a while yet one of the most normal things. The sense and idea of 'normalcy' had all but been kicked out of her life the moment she came across Jason, everything just spiraled out of control.

Though truth be told Stephanie Claue didn't hate it, in fact, she quite enjoyed the hecticness that is her life now. Sure there were ups and downs, and plenty of extra bills to pay which surprising hadn't so much as put a dent in her inheritance and fortune, but it made life more interesting for sure.

Life was good, she thought to herself as she unlocked her phone, which was silly to still have on as everyone had been able to crack the passcode during 'steal Stephanie's phone and get blackmail' night, she came face to face with a certain headline.

_**Thirteen Dead After the Joker Breaks Free From Arkham **_

_The criminal mastermind, alias 'The Joker' escaped late last night from the Arkham Asylum after a riot broke out. What had been an ordinary night shift had quickly become a dangerous and deadly game. Sources claim that the Joker, through the madness had disguised himself as a doctor in order to escape, wherein he had several accomplices who were waiting for him. _

_Neither the police nor the Justice League has made any comment on the matter, except for Gotham's very own Commissioner Gordon warning people to be on the lookout and 'keep your guard up Gotham'_

Several more headlines popped up after the article, ranging from services for those killed, the injured list as well as the hospitals they were taken to. A few other things were noted, like how it was a staged event and a help article on what to do if you are infected by Joker Gas. All in all, last night did not seem to be a good night for anyone.

Wondering if Jason and the others knew, which they probably did, Stephanie decided that it would be best to go make sure that he was alright.

She wasn't sure of his history with the 'supervillain', what she had gathered was that he was fairly bitter and angry towards the green-haired man. After Harley had moved in, Jason and she were at a standstill for a week or two, the tension was high and it seemed to be an issue that everyone but she knew about. The only thing she had been able to piece together was that it wasn't Harley who the issue, but more the man she had once been referred to as his 'wife', the Joker.

It was only after a late-night half-drunken stupor that Jason delved into his distaste for the man as well as the Dark Night, but before any specifics could be revealed he had passed out on the kitchen island. Ass up and face down in the fruit bowl, it had taken both Ivy and Deathstroke to help her sleep-deprived and partially drunk self up the stairs with his unconscious body.

It wasn't the best evening in existence.

Before she could even stumble out of bed the loudest sound erupted from outside her door. The entire mansion shook as the books and pictures she had up crashed to the ground, more noises of breaking glass and 'thunks' were echoed through the hallways as it seemed like an earthquake was wrecking through her home.

A scream rippled in the air causing Stephanie, without even so much as hesitating to dash out of her room to the sound. The hallway looked awful.

The walls had rivers of cracks spreading out like a web, the lights flickered on and off and the dust and rubble had to settle. All in all, it looked as though she had stepped straight into a Silent Hill game making her falter slightly before she heard the scream again.

Running down the broken halls to the staircases as the sounds of talking grew louder, she did her best to avoid the bits of ceiling and wall that began to crumble around her.

"Is everything alr-?!"

She froze as her voice trailed off, dying off in her throat as she stared up at the 'thing' that had landed in her home. That and the fact that Harley was running around with a look that could only be described as high and buying the last supply of Jeffree Star palettes at Sephora.

To say the adrenaline and the feeling of danger diminished faster then the Flash trying to save someone from an asteroid was an understatement.

"Oh, Steph! You're finally awake!"

"What is this?"

"This little thing?" Harley asked gesturing to the strange alien-like contraption that vibrated with a red and purple glow as if it were breathing, "Nothing really, just the greatest-est thing everything, come I'll show you!"

"That's not what I-" she couldn't get much else out as the clown girl grabbed her arms and dragged her closer to the thing that was clearly smoking.

"Remember Harls, Steph here isn't used to these things, be careful with her alright?" Ivy called out from on top of the silver machine as she slid down the side on a slide of vines alongside her Catwoman appeared with twin smiles, "Did you sleep alright Ms. Claue? Hope we weren't too loud."

"Given that she was here with lover boy I doubt they did much sleeping, right?" Live Wire snickered coming down the stairs while the other villains seemed to slink out from all corners of the mansion.

Stephanie's face flushed red shaking her head, "N-No not at all. In fact Robin and-"

"I'm just messin' with ya," the blue-haired woman waved her off, "Word got out that the Robins were here last night. The deets are all over the place regarding the fiasco, Jason wouldn't tell any of us the specifics but we have the jists. Oh and we know you two didn't do anything if you had, you Stephanie would not be walking right now." And with a wink, she disappeared in a spark of electricity only to reappear beside Harley.

Rolling her eyes she tapped her foot on the cracked flooring, "Anyways, what is that? Why is it here, and why is there a hole from the roof to here?!"

A silence fell over the group, not one making eye contact with her as the air grew heavy with a serious atmosphere, "I have a right to know-"

"The Joker."

Turning around she came face to face with an unmasked Jason Todd. His costume was only partially on, hair disheveled and weapons detached from the uniform, he looked like he didn't sleep much if at all the night before. Closing the space between them, he came to rest his hand on her shoulder, as he did the unexpected.

She felt a pressure on her head and the feeling of his chin rubbing against her crown. Her face became buried inside his chest, the smell of leather, alcohol, and the faint stench of iron, blood, seeped into her nose. He held her like that despite the eyes around them and even when Deathstroke broke the silence he merely flipped her around to face him but kept his arms on her.

"I'm sure you've heard," the bearded assassin stated, "Last night, around the time you were dealing with the Robins and Red Hood here, was dealing with riots in Bludhaven, the Joker escaped Arkham again and is now at large."

Stephanie nodded, though the actions were obstructed somewhat by Jason's head on her own, "I saw the headlines this morning. What does that mean for us-," she gave a side glance to the giant metal blob that was only letting out small puffs of smoke now, "-and that."

"What it means is that Gotham is now a dangerous place, especially for a single, wealthy woman like you who lives alone," Catwoman added, "At least that's what the rest of Gotham and the world believes. After last night though, the one good thing to come out of the evening was that Red Hood here basically told Batman how you are under his protection. And thus the Justice League shouldn't be too suspicious now and be off our backs at least till the Joker is stopped."

Processing the words Stephanie nodded for a moment before letting out a sigh, "Then what do you suggest happens now?"

"It means a few things could go down. You could take an unplanned vacation to Metropolis or Star City hell even Central City, go visit some old friends and those cousins of yours. There's the option of hiring into Gotham's armed security task force to ensure you will stay alive, but it just paints a bigger target on your back. Or we could pretend that everything is fine and act as if nothing changed."

"None of which seems all too great," Deadshot retorted glaring at Deathstroke, "If you leave now, because of your affluence, it makes you look suspicious. We have a better chance of protecting you then the task force, just myself here could take them out in under five minutes, they wouldn't stand a chance against the Joker and his new toys. But if you stay, you could die."

She felt Jason pull her in closer a rumble coming from his chest, "She's not going anywhere, we'll be fine. Batman will do as he always does capture him and send him back to the asylum."

"You are forgetting Jason," Ivy replied with a frown, "The Joker will do what he always does, he will escape again, it's only a temporary solution."

"Don't you think I know that Pamela?" he hissed as his voice echoed in Stephanie's ears due to the closeness, "I should know what that man is capable of more than anyone, what _he's _done, and what _he _also didn't do."

"She's not targeting you, Todd," the black and cowl covered woman stated, intervening by stepping between the two, "Ivy's just stating the truth. We aren't discrediting you or what happened, so please let's keep this civil."

Stephanie didn't know what was happening nor what they were talking about specifically, all she could guess was that it had to do with Jason's relationship with the clown prince of Gotham. "Nothing is going to happen to me alright? I'm not going to die, you all aren't going to die, we'll be fine. There's no reason to look into the unknown. I have never met the Joker and my parent's stayed away from dealing with him. By that logic, I have just as much chance as dying as anyone else, even less so as I live on the outskirts."

'Well-" came the two-toned haired woman, "-you see Steph, your chances of dying are actually increased cause ya live with all of us not to mention-" she looked at the thing beside her with a small smile, "-this also just made you the biggest target."

Everything went silent.

"..."

"...did I say something?"

"What do you mean? 'The biggest target'?!" Stephanie shouted, pulling away from Jason who was taken by surprise as she threw herself out of his grip over to Harley, "Will someone please tell me what one Earth this thing is and why does that put a hit on my back?"

An exchange of looks were shared among the group. "Is no one going to tell me? I do have the right to know I think."

"That's just it, hun. The more you know, the more danger you're in," Live Wire stated shrugging her shoulders somewhat blase, "But since my fellow partners in crime here can't bear to say anything I will."

"This thing over here," she gestured to the metal machinery, "it's something the Joker wants or in this case, the Joker plus a maniac Andriod alien thing from galaxies far far away."

"...I'm sorry, what?"

Jason sighed in her ear, "What electrified over there is trying to say is that there's a being called Brainiac, it's someone that the Justice League and Green Lantern corp have been monitoring for who knows how long. Long story short, that thing right there is now the most wanted thing in the galaxy."

"...oh."

She looked back at the metal thing, "Wouldn't it be safer in the hands of the Justice League then? And you know, not in the main hallway of my manor?" She said, "Because I'm not sure about you all, but hiding this thing is going to be pretty difficult considering the GIGaNTIC HOLE IN MY CEILING!"

Jason winced due to the proximity of her screaming, "If it's any consolation, you won't get in trouble if anything goes array," Harley interjected, "You'd probably be dead like the rest of us-"

Getting cut off by a tug from Ivy the woman chuckled uneasily, "-Ow Red jeez just trying to lighten the mood that's all. What I'm tryin' to say is that we'll take care of it ya?"

Stephanie gave her look but just sighed knowing that the conversation was going nowhere, "You could use a drink, come."

"It's a little too early to be-" her voice trailed off seeing the serious look that Jason was giving her, "-right a drink sounds good. Lead the way."

There was a bit of faint laughter that followed the pair out of the room before the tension seemed to return to the manor.

Walking into the kitchen, which had surprisingly been left unaffected by the giant metal thing by the stairwell. Grabbing a few glasses from the cupboard and popping open one of the bottles that hung on the wall the pair sat against the kitchen island.

"Didn't think we were actually going to be drinking," she said placing the glass down without taking a sip. It was far too early to be getting drunk, especially considering the night before.

Downing the entire glass in a single gulp as if it were a shot Jason cleared his throat, "You may not need it, but I do." He shook his head, running his fingers through his hair, "What I'm about to tell you, can not leave this room do you understand?"

Straightening up she nodded her head, "What is this about Jason?"

There were a few moments of silence, an inner battle taking place inside of him before he spoke, "Remember what I told you about last night? Do you want to know why I don't like Batman and I know Robin very well?"

Whether she wanted to know the information or not he didn't give her much of a choice. A part of her knew that once he told her, that everything, her views of Gotham, Batman, and him would be changed forever.

"I know them all, Batman, Red Robin, Nightwing, and Robin because-" he reached for the bottle as he took in a deep breath, "I used to be Robin well, that was until I died."

Stephanie just stared at him the only words that seemed to be coherent was a very simple and very loud, "WHAT THE FU-"

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**Notes**:

Jason doesn't like Dick Grayson much, he has an alright relationship with him later on but in early comics, he always felt like he was nothing but a substitute/replacement for Dick. They've later worked together as a team both in Red Hood and the Outlaws as well as in the New52.

He is described to be either indifferent towards Tim or pities him, ( because he sees him as another puppet of Batman/he had to replace the Robin who died, etc)

And as I said in the last chapter, he relates more with Damian but has issues with the kid, both stemming from the teen's attitude as well as his actual blood relation to Batman.


End file.
